“I want to congratulate you all: in my opinion Kawai makes today the best piano in the world!”

“I own a Shigeru Kawai piano at my house, which I selected at the Kawai Europe Center in Krefeld because of its sound qualities and flexible action. The instrument is for me a reliable partner and it is always a new pleasure for me to play at home on a piano of such excellent quality!”

What is special in my love of the Shigeru Kawai piano is that when I play this instrument, I feel it responds to my emotions and thoughts. When I played the SK-EX at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, I felt as if the piano and I became one.

This is the ultimate dream for any artist – talk to the piano and it will answer you. The Shigeru Kawai piano helps me express what I want to say in my music from a technical aspect, but ultimately it allows me to express myself to the public through its wonderful sound. The SK-EX is very rich in color and very rich in expression.

For the 2022 concert tour, I requested that Shigeru Kawai be brought to several venues, and Mr. Okubo and Mr. Kurata (both are Kawai piano technicians) provided various kinds of support. The reason why I wanted to play a Shigeru Kawai is that it offers a very high level of control and adaptability when I imagine what kind of sound I want to produce on stage and then press the keys. Shigeru Kawai’s touch and sound are both rich and versatile, and the characteristic of Shigeru Kawai is that the sound comes out exactly as you want it to.

I think SHIGERU KAWAI is the ideal piano nowadays to perform the music of Frederic Chopin. SHIGERU KAWAI brings with it some memories of the old Pleyels that Chopin himself used for his unforgettable music: its tone it is not focused only on the attack, as most pianos do today, but especially on the natural continuation and fading of the sound. Its warm tone and soft feeling in the keyboard enables the pianist to create a varied palette of colours, especially in the piano dynamic. All these qualities help us create the illusion of legato and to beautifully sing on this wonderful instrument. Cantabile and dolce are two words that go hand in hand with SHIGERU KAWAI.

The music of Frederic Chopin is playful, dramatic, profound, poignant…
SHIGERU KAWAI enables the performer to express these desires to the fullest extent. With its immaculate control and captivating sound, it is a true joy to play on a SHIGERU KAWAI.

Kawai pianos have a very deep and rich sound from the lower registers. And in the upper voice, the clear sound is very strong point. So, it is very attractive that the two strengths harmonize very well and can produce a variety of colors during the performance.

The Kawai staff were perfect partners who cared for everything with kindness and dedication throughout the Chopin Competition. In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to the tuning team who worked hard to make the best piano without even sleeping in the early morning for tuning the piano.