Yamaha and Bösendorfer Collaboration Intensifies

In January 2008, Yamaha purchased Bösendorfer Pianos, one of the most prestigious brands in the piano industry. Last month, a plan was announced that will intensify the collaboration of sales and marketing activities between the two companies. Integrated within a multiple-brand strategy, the strengths of both brands will be more intensively leveraged in order to capture new market share. Together, Yamaha and Bösendorfer are able to offer complete solutions to every pianist, every teacher and every audience. Bösendorfer grands, available in a wide array of unique designs and finishes, have a European flavour that renders a full, warm sound and special interpretation possibilities for pianists. With the support of Yamaha and its infrastructure, artist management should be expanded worldwide and collaboration with concert halls and renowned educational institutions accelerated. Bösendorfer headquarters and manufacturing will remain in Austria.

According to Paul Calvin, Vice President and General Manager of Yamaha’s Keyboard Division, “We look forward to the integration of this historic and well-regarded brand. Bösendorfer’s instruments are famous for their fine sound and craftsmanship since 1828. As such, they make a wonderful addition to the Yamaha family of products.”

Bösendorfer was founded in 1828 and is a manufacturer of premium pianos, especially concert grands. As a symbol of Vienna’s musical culture, Bösendorfer pianos sustain the city’s legacy of unique, warm, and rich sound-creation combined with top-quality production, based on a long tradition of craftsmanship, and have many fans principally among pianists and professional musicians. After becoming a subsidiary of Kimball Piano and Organ Company, a U.S. piano manufacturer, in 1966, Bösendorfer was acquired in 2002 by the BAWAG an Austrian financial group. Yamaha began the manufacturing of pianos in 1900 and has built a position as a full-line supplier, offering a wide range of pianos led by the top-of-the-line concert grand CFIIIS. In addition, Yamaha maintains a branch of its European subsidiary in Vienna and has nurtured close ties with the musical community in Vienna. Over the years, at the request of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the decrease in the number of local instrument manufacturers, Yamaha has developed, and is continuing to manufacture, instrument groups that inherit Vienna’s sound and musical tradition, including Vienna oboes and Vienna horns in the wind instruments section. Bösendorfer pianos, too, have a uniquely Viennese resonance, and the traditional methods of manufacturing have been preserved. In its management role, Yamaha believes that, going forward, it will be possible to support the healthy growth and development of Bösendorfer and contribute to sustaining Vienna’s musical culture and traditions for future generations.