A Yamaha Artist is a designation bestowed by

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

, by invitation, to musical artists, considered to be critically acclaimed in their instruments or genres. Acceptance as a Yamaha Artist is tantamount to a reciprocal endorsement by

. Like other musical instrument manufacturers, Yamaha supports its artists in various ways.

History

Yamaha's music artist program is managed by

Yamaha Corporate Artist Affairs Yamaha Entertainment Group of America, is a division of the American subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. It is based in Franklin, Tennessee and was created and developed in 2001 by Vice President Chris Gero. YEG is responsible for the development ...

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454 ...

. There is also an office in New York City which exclusively handles Yamaha Artists in the classical music field, as relates to Yamaha Pianos and Yamaha Band and Orchestra instruments - namely those in the brass and woodwind families. Other offices relating to Yamaha Guitars and

Yamaha Drums Yamaha Drums is a subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation founded in 1967. The company manufactures acoustic and electronic drum kits as well as percussion instruments, marching band equipment, and drum hardware. Production Most of Yamaha's drums a ...

are located in

Buena Park, California Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 mi ...

. The office in New York is known as

Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (also known as YASI)A visit to Yamaha ...

, was founded in 1987, and serves the world of Yamaha classical piano artists.

Endorsement component

Endorsements from product manufacturers, certainly in the case of musical instruments, requires a personal relationship between an artist and professional services representative. Paraphrasing

Peter Erskine Peter Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead. Early life and education Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S. He began playing the dru ...

, endorsement relationships go beyond providing free equipment, clinic support, advertising, logistical assistance, and the like. The relationships are often very personal and depend on good communication.

Selected Yamaha Artists (past and present)

Contemporary musical artists * Don Alder *

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...

* Paul Bostaph *

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

* Sheryl Crow *

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

* Nathan East * A Fine Frenzy *

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

* Randy Jackson *

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

* Elton John *

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

* Karmin *

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

* Barry Manilow * Andrew Markworth *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

* Fernando Otero * Phil Ramone * Ryan Shore *

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

* Justin Timberlake * U2 * Stevie Wonder Jazz artists *

Geri Allen Geri Antoinette Allen (June 12, 1957 – June 27, 2017) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. In addition to her career as a performer and bandleader, Allen was also an associate professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh ...

* Lynne Arriale * Aziza *

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

* Robi Botos *

Joanne Brackeen Joanne Brackeen (born Joanne Grogan; July 26, 1938) is an American jazz pianist and music educator. Music career Brackeen was born in Ventura, California, United States, and attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. She was a fan of pop pi ...

* David Braid * Alex Brown * Dennis Burnside *

Cyrus Chestnut Cyrus Chestnut (born January 17, 1963) is an American jazz pianist, composer and producer. In 2006, Josh Tyrangiel, music critic for '' Time'', wrote: "What makes Chestnut the best jazz pianist of his generation is a willingness to abandon note ...

Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an award-winning American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was sixteen he attended the Community School of the Performing ...

Gerald Clayton Gerald William Clayton (born May 11, 1984) is a Dutch-born American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader. Biography Clayton attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts; USC's Thornton School of Music, where he studied piano with ...

* Chick Corea *

* Per Danielsson * Tony DeSare *

Taylor Eigsti Taylor Eigsti (born September 24, 1984) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Eigsti's trio features bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Eric Harland. He is also a member of Eric Harland Voyager, Kendrick Scott Oracle, and Gretchen Parlato's ...

* ELEW * Matthew Fogg * James Francies * Jeff Franzel *

Mike Garson Michael David Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Duran Duran, Free Flight and The Smashing Pumpkins. Early career Garson went to Lafayette High School in Brookly ...

* Benny Golson *

Gordon Goodwin Gordon L. Goodwin (born 1954) is an American pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is the leader of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. He has won four Grammy Awards and three Daytime Emmy Awards, and has received over twenty ...

* Tom Grant * Tamir Hendelman * Nachito Herrera * Henry Hey * Hiromi * Laurence Hobgood * Dick Hyman * Bob James *

Jeff Lorber Jeffrey H. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on January 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for ''Prototype'' ...

* Marcus Johnson * Florence K *

Michael Kaeshammer Michael Kaeshammer (born 7 January 1977) is a Canadian jazz and boogie-woogie pianist. Early life and education Kaeshammer grew up in Offenburg, Germany, where he studied classical piano for seven years. At age thirteen, he became interested i ...

* Milen Kirov *

Marcus Loeber Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a Asteroid belt, main belt asteroid, also known as List of minor planets: 369001–370000#088, ( ...

(de) *

Bobby Lyle Robert Lyle (born March 11, 1944) is a jazz pianist/organist and educator. Early life Lyle was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 11, 1944 to parents Robert and Elise Lyle. He grew up in a musical household after the family moved from Memphis ...

* Keiko Matsui * Giorgi Mikadze * Andy Milne * Eric Mintel * Anthony Molinaro *

Dan Nimmer Dan Nimmer (born 1982) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Nimmer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1982. He started playing the piano by ear.Keogh, Tom (June 28, 2008"Jazz Pianist Dan Nimmer Shares the Key to His Success" ...

Johnny O'Neal Johnny O'Neal (born October 10, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American neo-bop jazz pianist and vocalist. His playing ranges from the technically virtuosic to the tenderest of ballad interpretations. Though unique in style, he is influenced ...

* Eddie Palmieri * Konrad Paszkudzki * Danilo Perez * Jean-Michel Pilc * Alberto Pizzo * Eric Reed *

David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music. Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...

* Dan Siegel * Edward Simon * Jeremy Siskind * Richard Sussman (de) * Dan Tepfer * Tony Tixier *

George Wein George Wein (October 3, 1925 – September 13, 2021) was an American jazz promoter, pianist, and producer.

* Kenny Werner * Matthew Whitaker * Eric Wortham II ‡ Classical and experimental musical artists *

James Adler James Adler (born November 19, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American composer and pianist. Adler began his piano studies at age 10 with Elsie K. Brett. His teachers include Rose Willits, Mollie Margolies and Seymour Lipkin. He has coached with ...

* Alexander Braginsky * Cathal Breslin * Sara Davis Buechner * Costantino Catena * Angelin Chang *

Frederic Chiu Frederic Chiu (born 20 October 1964) is an American classical concert pianist. Education Chiu was born in Ithaca, New York. He studied music seriously with William Eltzroth at Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, with Karen Shaw (and also stud ...

* Vicky Chow *

Richard Danielpour Richard Danielpour (born January 28, 1956) is an American composer. Early life Danielpour was born in New York City of Persian Jewish descent and grew up in New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. He studied at Oberlin College and the New E ...

* Jarred Dunn * JB Floyd *

Mark Gasser Mark Gasser (born 6 July 1972) is a British concert pianist. Career Gasser was born in Sheffield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1972 to Austrian and Scottish parents. He studied with John Humphreys at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, ...

* Peter-Lukas Graf * Claire Huangci * Byron Janis *

Olga Kern Olga Vladimirovna Kern (russian: Ольга Владимировна Керн; born Olga Pushechnikova, 23 April 1975) is a Russian American, Russian-American classical pianist. She became an American citizen in 2016. Early life Olga Kern was bor ...

* Alexander Kobrin * Eduard Kunz * Soyeon Kate Lee * Alain Lefèvre * Denis Matsuev * Anne-Marie McDermott * Alberto Nosè * Ainobu Ota *

Arfon Owen Arfon, from the Welsh language, Welsh for ''Facing Anglesey'', refers to the southern shore of the Menai Strait, the part of mainland Wales closest to the island of Anglesey. It may refer to: Places * District of Arfon, an administrative subdivisio ...

* Artur Pizarro * Paul Posnak * Awadagin Pratt * Vassily Primakov * Jerome Rose * Nicholas Roth * Maria João Pires * Ory Shihor * Jade Simmons *

Abbey Simon Abbey Henry Simon (January 8, 1920 – December 18, 2019) was an American concert pianist, teacher, and recording artist. He was a protégé of Josef Hofmann at the Curtis Institute of Music and a winner of the Naumburg International Piano Comp ...

* Mimi Stillman *

Mei-Ting Sun Mei-Ting Sun (), born 14 March 1981, is a classical pianist. A native of Shanghai, Sun arrived in New York at the age of nine. He entered the Professional Children's School and the Mannes College of Music, where he studied ear training with M ...

* Kathleen Supové * Alessandro Taverna * Dan Tepfer * Jennifer Thomas (pianist) * Michael Tilson Thomas *

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began ...

* Oxana Yablonskaya : ‡ Also classical

Yamaha Artist Services

Yamaha offers Yamaha Artists Services in select cities that include

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

Yamaha Artist Services Piano Salon in New York

Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI) in Midtown Manhattan is the home of the Yamaha Artist Services Piano Salon at

689 Fifth Avenue 689 Fifth Avenue (originally the Aeolian Building and later the Elizabeth Arden Building) is a commercial building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 54th Street. The building ...

at East

54th Street 54th Street is a two-mile-long (3.2 km), one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan. Notable places, west to east Twelfth Avenue *The route begins at Twelfth Avenue ( New York Route 9A). Opposite the intersection is the N ...

, northeast corner. It features rehearsal space, recording space, performance space, a high end brass and woodwind workshop, and a concert bank of Bösendorfer and Yamaha pianos.

recorded an album there. Concerts and festivals rely on the support of the YASI. The space is also set up to broadcast live masterclasses and performances with audio and video, but through Disklavier technology, the actual live performance itself can be heard on a piano in a different space – in real time.

Selected initiatives involving Yamaha Artists

Yamaha introduced the Yamaha Disklavier in 1987, a high-tech piano that has been widely used in teaching piano and music theory as well as composing and performances. Yamaha Corporation of America, Yamaha Canada Music Limited, and Yamaha Artists New York have sponsored national seminars for music educators and Yamaha Artists using the Disklavier."Before and After: What to Listen for in Assessing Our Students," by Midori Koga, George Litterst, Janet Lopinski, Scott McBride Smith, and Peteris Zarins, '' American Music Teacher'',

Music Teachers National Association Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) is an American nonprofit professional organization for the support, growth, and development of music-teaching professionals, with more than 17,000 members in 50 states, and more than 500 affiliated loc ...

, Vol. 57, No. 2 October/November 2007, pp. 21-23 (retrieved October 4, 2017, ''via'' JSTOR at )

Musical artists programs of other manufacturers

* Steinway Artists * Ludwig Drums Artists * Bösendorfer Artists (wholly owned subsidiary of

since 2008)

References

External links

Yamaha Corporate Artist Affairs, Inc.

Website of Yamaha Artist Services, Inc.

Yamaha Global Artist Relations
{{Yamaha Corporation, state=autocollapse Artist Music instrument endorsement lists