The Yamaha Disklavier Recording & Reproducing Piano
Presented by David Kreisberg
The history of the reproducing piano is both long and colorful. Arriving on the scene among 
the plethora of mechanical musical instruments at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, it was not only an early widely distributed device for the reproduction of recorded music but the epicenter of the middle class family’s “home entertainment system” until the rise of mass produced audio recordings, commercial radio and the arrival of the “Great Depression.”
Today’s computer controlled recording/reproducing pianos are faithful and accurate instruments not only in their performance but also in their performance capture. This month’s presentation will focus on the abilities and technical background of Yamaha’s Disklavier pianos, first introduced in 1986, and the role they play in current audio recording and performance applications.
Keyboard Concepts will be providing a Yamaha Grand Piano at the Sportmen's Lodge for demonstration of the recording and playback capabilities of the Disklavier system.
David Kreisberg has been a Los Angeles based producer, engineer and composer for over 30 years. His credits include working with artists such as Herb Alpert, Elmer Bernstein, Ray Brown, Benny Carter, David Foster, Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin, Jerry Herman, Fred Hersch, Shirley Horn, Roger Kellaway, Henry Mancini, Van Dyke Parks, Oscar Peterson, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lalo Schifrin, Wayne Shorter, Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder among many including Grammy nominated recordings with Joe Williams and Maureen McGovern.
In 1992 David created Virtuoso Piano Performance Software which specialized in the production of solo piano performance recordings for modern computer-based reproducing pianos. In 2000 he partnered in creating Prescriptive Music, an independent record label whose focus was on original audio recordings distributed to the health and wellness industries. In 2000 he also began independently producing Disklavier software recordings for Yamaha Corporation including works for PianoSoft Solo, PianoSoft+Audio and PianoSmart formats with currently more than 160 titles to his credit.
David also worked with David Abell at his renowned piano shop in Hollywood for 20 years where he designed, built and operated Studio “A”, one of L.A.’s premiere recording studios dedicated to acoustic piano recordings.
While enrolled as a composition major in the music department at California State University Northridge David studied music composition with Aurelio de la Vega and pipe organ performance with David Britton.