Linda Lee Thomas releases new CD: "Tango Con Fazioli"

VANCOUVER, BC - Linda Lee Thomas is a name that every Vancouverite knows - she has been the principal pianist of the VSO since 1972. She has something common with Showcase Pianos owner Manuel Bernaschek: They both love Fazioli pianos. In February of 2013 she released her new CD: "Tango Con Fazioli".

"The first time I played this amazing instrument, I had the same feeling I had when hearing Tango for the first time. It fulfulled my every wish and dream. It responded to my touch as a tango dancer or another musician would." says Thomas in her CD jacket.

As “Chamber Musician Supreme”, she was Artistic Director of Masterpiece Music, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre¹s hugely successful chamber music series for 17 years. In 2000, she was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame for her outstanding contributions to the industry.

“On May 1st, 1988, my addiction to Argentine Tango began. Astor Piazzolla and his Quintet were playing in Vancouver and I had been encouraged by many to go. Skeptically I went – reluctantly I left. That night, the music of tango lured me under its spell.”

Her passion is the music and dance of Argentina – the Tango. Since her bold emergence onto the international tango scene, she has become one of Canada¹s foremost tango musician, performing and recording with Argentine bandoneonists Daniel Binelli and Nestor Marconi. She is affectionately known as “The Reina de Tango”.

For the past decade she has been busy playing with her Tango Trio – TANGISSIMO – fast becoming known all over the world. Featuring Ed Henderson on guitar and Miles Foxx Hill on bass, they have played to thousands of people in live concerts, broadcasts and recordings. Their CD TANGISSIMO LIVE was chosen as one of the best releases of 2002 by Radio-Canada¹s ESPACE MUSIQUE. They were taken to Buenos Aires in 2006 by INFINITY FILMS to shoot the documentary – CHASING THE TANGO HIGH for BRAVO TV. Their CD of the same name was released in October of that year. It features live recordings from Buenos Aires with Tangissimo and the tango legends of our time.

Always chasing the next tango project, she released her first solo piano album – TANGO MAGIC – in the spring of 2008. Last year she was performing and recording in Buenos Aires to great success with the harmonica sensation Franco Luciani and the famous violinist Mauricio Marcelli. Each year she returns to her beloved Argentina where she has earned a reputation of being one of the best tangueras – both at the piano and on the dance floor.

This year she has embarked on another recording project – TANGO CON FAZIOLI. She is putting together two of her favourite things – Tango and Fazioli pianos. The first installment for this recording was a live concert on June 10th, 2012, at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Together with Joan Blackman, Violin – Jonathan Goldman, Bandoneon – Ed Henderson, Guitar and Dylan Palmer, Bass, they played many of the original quintet arrangements of Astor Piazzolla. One of the highlights of this show was Piazzolla’s Ave Maria. Jon Washburn did the exqusite arrangement for Roger Cole, Oboe and the Men of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. And in August she will be returning to Buenos Aires to record with tango musicians there. On a Fazioli – of course.

"Cinema Paradiso" featuring Roy & Rosemary

VANCOUVER, BC - Local music duo Roy & Rosemary features the keyboard talent of Roy Tan and the violin virtuosity of Rosemary Siemens.  Rosemary is a violinist that has performed all over the world, including three different performances at Carnegie Hall, as well as the Vatican, and at the home of Donald Trump.

After doing a photo shoot on a white Fazioli in a 7,000 sq ft penthouse downtown Vancouver, they perform on the $225,000 custom made Fazioli piano in the lobby of the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel together with the Stradivari Ensemble.  Local videographers Motion Tide prepared this excellent video featuring Roy & Rosemary performing "Cinema Paradiso" with the Stradivari Ensemble.

Whistler's Pique Magazine Interviews Paolo Fazioli

WHISTLER, BC - On Tuesday the 29th of January the founder and owner of the Fazioli Piano factory near Venice Italy visited a home Whistler.  Pique News Magazine Arts writer Alyssa Noel came out to meet him and take a photo of him by a Fazioli piano.

A very well written article, please read it by clicking HERE.  

Mr. Fazioli visits Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BC – Near the end of January 2013, the founder of the Fazioli Pianoforti factory in Italy Mr. Paolo Fazioli visited Vancouver as one of his 3 stops during his quick tour through North America.  Arriving into Vancouver on the late evening on Sunday, he went straight to the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel where he enjoyed a live performance by local sensation Roy & Rosemary together with the Vancouver Academy of Music’s Stradivari Ensemble. 

Many passersby were blown away by the beauty of the music, and soon the entire lobby was packed with people surrounding the centerpiece: a one-of-a-kind $225,000 Fazioli piano designed by MGB Architecture, the same firm that designed the lobby.  During his stay at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Mr. Fazioli stayed in one of the hotel’s ‘signature suites’: “the Fazioli Suite”.   A total of 1,200 sq ft in size, the huge room features photos taken during the construction of the Fairmont’s piano.

The next day featured visits to the homes of some customers that had recently ordered or received a Fazioli piano with a special finish.  The evening concluded in White Rock where Roy & Rosemary played again, together with singer/songwriter Austin Nash Park, soprano Sarah Tatto, Loverboy’s pianist Doug Johnson.   The evening was concluded by a moving performance by pianist-turned-accountant Daniel Chow.

The final day included a quick drive up to Whistler to sign the iron plate of the first Fazioli to be sold into the Whistler area.   Although normally cloudy, the sun peeked through the clouds for a few brief moments for Mr. Fazioli to be able to appreciate the beauty of the snow covered hills.