Tribute Dinner to Dr. Thomas Fung at Pan Pacific Hotel

VANCOUVER, BC - Enjoy a great night for a great cause in honour of a great man.  Join the LIVERight Gala in paying tribute to philanthropist and entrepreneur Dr. Thomas Fung at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Friday November 18!  Click HERE for the details, or email info@showcasepianos.com 

New Academy and Piano Showroom Opens in Richmond

Highly sought after pianist will teach at new Academy in Aberdeen Centre

RICHMOND, BC - Much like celebrity chefs that come to Vancouver open fine dining restaurants, Seattle resident Dr. Sasha Starcevich is the Artist Director of a new piano school opening in Richmond's Aberdeen Centre: Showcase Piano Academy.

Concert pianist Sasha Starcevich received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Yale University in 2003 and continues to thrill audiences around the world with his performances in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Windsor Castle, Tchaikovsky Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London.

Perhaps you remember reading about some young performers from the local area - Tristan Teo, Evgenia Rabinovich, and Tim Zhang.  They all had one thing in common: their teacher was Dr. Starcevich.

Dr. Starcevich is in frequent demand as a performer, adjudicator and presenter of Master Classes throughout North America, Russia and China. He will come to Vancouver once a month to teach master classes at the new Academy, and coach other teachers.   Master classes are open for public viewing, and aspiring pianists of any age can pay $100 to be one of four students in a two hour long master class.

"At $200 an hour his rate is one of the highest in the city - or maybe even the highest," says Academy Manager Rachel Lam, "so I wasn't sure how long it would take to fill up his schedule, but I'm happy to say that the response has been excellent - probably due to his fantastic reputation in Vancouver.  We've had a number of students that have asked to be booked for every single upcoming master class with Dr. Starcevich."

The new school accepts students of all ages and also has some other well known teachers such as Bogdan Dulu, Lay Tuan Tan, Clare Yuan, Ross Salvosa, as well as the current president of the Richmond Association of Registered Music Teachers: Mimi Ho.  Children as young as three and a half years of age can learn music together with one parent in the very successful 'Music for Young Children' program that is endorsed by famed Canadian concert pianist Angela Hewitt.

Call to arrange a lesson at 604-270-8861 or email info@showcaseacademy.com 

China Musik Messe in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, CHINA - Every year piano manufacturers are invited to at least 3 main shows to display their instruments for retailers and industry professionals to see.  The largest and most important of these shows has now become the one in Shanghai, China.  This year it started on Tuesday the 11th of October, and Showcase Pianos cashed in all of it's airline points to send a representative on their behalf to have a look. 

 

Angela Hewitt performs on Fazioli in GuangZhou

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - Showcase Pianos owners Manuel and Judy Bernaschek traveled to China for the first time in October of 2011, and stopped in GuangZhou on the way to the Shanghai Music Messe Exposition.  Canadian concert pianist Angela Hewitt happened to be performing at a local concert hall to a sold out audience.  This was the first time a Fazioli piano was used in a performance in GuangZhou.

Rise of the Piano of the Apes

Showcase Pianos provided the small old upright piano that appeared in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". Although the movie was set in San Francisco, many of the scenes were filmed in Vancouver. One Vancouver home near Cambie Street and West 13th Avenue was re-created at Mammoth Studios in Burnaby, where a piano was used in the bedroom of Charles Rodman, the character played by Oscar nominee John Lithgow. The movie also showed a large old upright on the main floor of the same house, but Showcase Pianos didn't provide the piano for that room.

Aryo Wicaksono in Concert on Sunday August 21

Sunday August 21, 2011 at 1:30pm

Showcase Pianos | FAZIOLI store Aberdeen Centre, Richmond

RICHMOND, BC - Hailed by the Arizona Daily Star as a pianist with “technical prowess, balletic grace, warm tones, and unwavering devotion to the score,” pianist Aryo Wicaksono has performed in many venues and festivals throughout the United States. Internationally, he has been a featured soloist in St. Petersburg, Russia; Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates; state of Sonora, Mexico; and throughout Indonesia.He has performed with the Nusantara Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Symphony, United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Tucson, Tucson Symphony, Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Wind Ensemble, and Arizona Percussion Ensemble, performing concertos and new works ranging from Liszt, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky to Philip Glass. As a musical director and pianist for the musical “Elegies – Looking Up” by composer William Finn, he won the Arizona Daily Star’s “Mac Award” 2006 for Best Musical in Tucson, and the Tucson Weekly “Best of Awards” Best Musical in Tucson for 2006-2007. Recent highlights of his performances are Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto with Nusantara Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Hikotaro Yazaki, Prokofiev 1st Piano Concerto with UAE Philharmonic Orchestra under Philipp Maier, a solo recital debut at the prestigious Embassy Series in Washington D.C., and a sold-out orchestral debut with the St. Petersburg State Symphony in St. Petersburg, Russia, performing Prokofiev’s 1st Piano Concerto. As the first Western classical music artist to hold a visiting Artist-in-Residence position at the American University of Sharjah, in Sharjah, UAE in November 2009, he presented his UAE solo recital debut, master classes and lectures. Recent tours include Prokofiev 3rd Concerto in Tucson AZ, Liszt Totentanz in Indonesia, East Coast Tour with the Dance Theatre of Harlem in the Fall of 2010, and recital debut and residency at SouthWestern College in San Diego, among others. Upcoming concerts will include San Francisco and Vancouver Recitals and residency, and another tour of Indonesia in Fall 2011. As a composer, he has made scores for short independent Japanese film “Dream of an Hour”, and has some of his music set into ballet by Teatro Jaguar Luna and other ballet schools in the U.S. and abroad. He was pianist-composer in residence for the American Academy of Ballet School this July 2011. For more information, press reviews, and touring schedule, please visit Aryo’s website at http://www.aryo-wicaksono.com. He lives in NYC and works for NYU Tisch Ballet School and 92^nd Street Y Harkness School.

RECITAL PROGRAM

Toccata in F-sharp minor BWV 910

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Etude in C-major Op. 10 no. 1

Waltz in c-sharp minor Op. 64 no. 2

Etude in c-sharp minor Op. 10 no. 4

Nocturne in c-minor Op. 48 no. 1

Etude in c-minor Op. 10 no. 12

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

Portrait of a Lady (Vancouver premiere) – c. 2010

Joshua Saulle (b. 1979)

Tembang Alit

Jaya Suprana (b. 1949)

Etude Tableaux in D-major Op. 39 no. 9

Sergey Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

Wagner, arr. Liszt (1813-1883)

Mephisto Waltz no. 1

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Enroll for piano lessons before August 31!!

RICHMOND, BC - The new Showcase Piano Academy in Richmond's beautiful Aberdeen Centre is offering to waive the $35 registration fee for new students that sign up for piano lessons before August 31!

Sign up by calling (604) 270-8861 or emailing juliec@showcasepianos.com For more information, visit showcaseacademy.com