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Besbrode Pianos News Archive

All piano enquiries call Steven Leeming on +44 (0) 113 244 8344 or email info@besbrodepianos.com for more information

How Melvin made an art out of a worldwide sales pitch for pianos

08 September 2015.

Catherine Turnbull reports for The Yorkshire Post on an unlikely business success story hitting the right notes

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Pianos pop up in Leeds city centre

24 August 2015.

DOZENS of brightly-decorated pianos are popping up across Leeds as the city tunes up for one of its biggest music competitions

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Meet the Leeds man for who piano restoration is big business

21 August 2015.

In an overlooked corner of Leeds, Sheena Hastings discovers the UKs largest piano emporium

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Piano-lovers' paradise in Leeds

11 August 2015.

It's well known Leeds hosts one of the biggest piano competitions in the world - but did you know that tucked away in a corner of the city is one of the biggest piano collections in the UK? Helen Steel from Calendar News reports.

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Me and My Piano

22nd August-10th September 2015.

Leeds International Piano Competition in association with Besbrode Pianos Leeds, is proud to present Me & My Piano, an exciting art installation coming to the city of Leeds this summer. Running from 22nd August-10th September 12 pianos will be placed around the city free for the public to play and engage with

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"The Eyes of a Mistrusting Elephant"

22nd November to 30th December 2014.

'The Eyes of a Mistrusting Elephant'. Leeds born Artists Emma Pettifer and mother Jackie Waterhouse showcase an eclectic mix of Portraiture, Impressionism and Abstract in mixed media. 22nd November to 30th December 2014

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Leeds College of Music Piano Competition

November 23rd 2014 and December 7th 2014.

Leeds College of Music Piano Competition in partnership with Besbrode Pianos. Finals held at Besbrode Pianos on Sunday, December 7th 2014

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Joshua Kelly and Gavin Doyle Classical Concert Piano Competition

16th February 2014.

Prior to playing at the Chopin Festival in Warsaw 14.00 on Sunday 16th February 2014 at Besbrode Pianos Leeds

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Baltica Charity Concert of Russian Classical Music In Aid of The Russian School Baltica

28th October 2012.

Sasha Volpov (Cello) and Jonathon Duke (Piano)

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Pianos take centre stage as exhibition provides a counterpoint to competition

10th August 2012.

An exhibition featuring some of the world’s most luxurious pianos is to be staged when Leeds International Pianoforte Competition begins at the end of August

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Art Diary: Will Marriott

2th December 2009.

Four professional soloists appearing by kind permission of Opera North will join children from Roundhay Music School for the inaugural Christmas charity concert in The Atrium at the Bexley Wing, St James's Hospital in Leeds. The show goes on after Leeds-based piano dealers Besbrode answered a SOS from the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.

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Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Kristoffer Zegers Piano Phasing (UK Premiere)

23rd November 2009.

50 pianists and 25 pianos come together in this exciting large-scale performance. Piano Phasing is based on a vision of the work's composer, Kristoffer Zegers. As a child, Zegers was fascinated by the rhythmic phases of church-bells, which never ring in time. When he began to compose, he noticed that even pieces of music with minimal rhythmical differences are sometimes subject to these phases. It is this weakness that is the strongest element of Piano Phasing, making rhythmical variations possible despite the piece being fully composed and notated.

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Pianos on move for musical extravaganza

24th November 2009.

Not one but 25 upright pianos were transported from Leeds to Huddersfield yesterday for a performance of Kristoffer Zegers' Piano Phasing – an unusual piece to be played simultaneously by 50 non-professional pianists.

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Steinway Showroom Clearance Sale in association with Steinway & Sons

19th and 20th September 2009.

For two days only, you will be able to choose from a wide selection of nearly new, Steinway, Boston and Essex grand and upright pianos

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Leeds International Pianoforte Competition 2009

26th August to 13th September 2009.

Besbrode Pianos Leeds is proud to support the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition 2009. Five grand and seven upright pianos were installed in the competitors' rehearsal facilities at Leeds University halls of residence and in our own showrooms.

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Pianist Magazine No 49 August - September 2009

August to September 2009.

16 page guide to the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition including Besbrode Pianos Advertorial.

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Leeds College of Music 2009 / 10 prospectus

2009 - 2010

Besbrode Pianos Leeds is used as the location for the photo shoot for Leeds College of Music 2009 / 10 prospectus and features on the front cover

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Unearthing the history that's lost in music

20th February2009

Young Jazz Musician of the Year Matthew Bourne has been round Yorkshire finding pianos with a story. Hannah Baker talked to Bourne about Songs from a Lost Piano.

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Songs from a Lost Piano

27th February 2009

Calling on ghostly memories of hymns, music hall songs and pub sing-a-longs, the brilliantly maverick pianist Matthew Bourne breathes life back into some of Yorkshire's forgotten instruments. He brings with him discarded gems from his search, including the decaying elegance of a piano passed down from mother to daughter, a legless carcass from a Wesleyan Methodist chapel and the faded glamour of a white cocktail grand.

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Album: Dave Stapleton & Matthew Bourne, Dismantling the Waterfall

23rd October 2011

There's no show-off virtuosity, but instead a surprisingly winning regard for sound as sound, and an eclectic approach that covers Satie-like sentience, Cecil Taylor knuckle-isms and Viennese abstraction. Recorded at Besbrode Pianos in Leeds, it's the first release of a new record label formed by Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.

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Play me, I'm yours

10th - 24th March 2008

Fifteen pianos are being dotted around Birmingham as part of a community music project. Fierce Earth, Urban Fusion and Birmingham City Council, working together with international artist Luke Jerram have created a unique community music project titled 'Play me, I'm yours'.

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Hello Friends Sculpture unveiling at Bridgewater Place Leeds.

10th December 2007

The Sculpture "Hello Friends" was installed in 2007 in the atrium at Bridgewater Place, Leeds. Artists Bryan and Laura Davies were commissioned in 2006 by the building developers Landmark Development Projects Ltd and St James Securities Ltd, designing and making the work in one year.

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The Apprentice: How an 800 year old tradition is still thriving in Germany

2007

31 January 2008: Stefan Walter a 25 year old piano technician and "journeyman" from Germany arrives at Besbrode Pianos Leeds looking for work and brings with him an 800 year old tradition of apprenticeship still thriving in Germany.

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Tickling the ivories

22nd - 23rd September 2007

The BBC big piano party, Pianos Everywhere, took place alongside the Leeds International Piano Competition, while the best pianists in the world were right here in Leeds.

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Yorkshire jazz star helps Leeds go piano crazy

6th September 2006

LEEDS jazz sensation Peter Grant will perform a one-off concert as part of new event which will see pianos installed at 10 unusual venues across the city.

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How Leeds resonated to the sound of more than 1,000 pianists

23rd September 2006

MORE than 1,000 piano players of all ages and abilities tinkled the ivories at unusual locations in Leeds as part of the city's first Pianos Everywhere event

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Angela Barnes meets the ivory kings

28th March 2005

Yorkshire duo Melvin Besbrode and Steven Leeming have provided pianos for some of the biggest names in music. Angela Barnes meets the ivory kings.

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Jazzman Kevin Pens Musical Self-Portrait

2005

and he has put it on the cover of his CD. Being photographed at the keyboard was the last thing Leeds musician Kevin James wanted on the cover of his latest CD

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Matthew Bourne - The Future Sound of Jazz

2005

Despite the rave reviews, his Perrier Young Jazz award, his successat 2002's BBC Jazz awards, his astonishing solo concerts and his UK tour, Matthew Bourne refuses to compromise his music

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