 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, UK |
| Products | Pianos |
| Website | www |
Cavendish Pianos is a brand of pianos made at Yorkshire Pianos, the only company producing pianos still wholly built in the United Kingdom. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Inspired by the closure of the Yamaha Kemble factory in Milton Keynes, Adam Cox and his wife Charlie used their experience as piano dealers and repairers together with investment from the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, to begin production of their own brand of pianos in the United Kingdom. [2] The Cavendish name comes from the Duke of Devonshire, whose support was critical to the foundation of the firm. [3] [4] [5] The Cox family, with three piano-playing daughters, have regularly acted as hosts for players in the Leeds International Piano Competition. [3]
The firm was founded in 2012 after a three-year period of planning and research. [4] The first three Cavendish pianos were shown at the Musikmesse trade fair in Frankfurt in 2012. [3]
In September 2013, Jamie Cullum visited the firm while recording a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Jamie Cullum's Piano Pilgrimage, due for broadcast in January 2014. [6]
Cavendish source their skills and materials from the Yorkshire area. [3] The firm has organized and works with a network of local craftsmen who produce key parts of the pianos, which they call a "craftsman's co-operative". [4] The firm also has links to Lincoln College, which is the last facility in the UK to teach piano technology, and it has provided employment to graduates of the college. [4]
The firm currently produces five models of piano: [7]
The Times notes in February 2013 that prices of the upright models start at £4,995, which reflects the British manufacture using traditional materials and skills. [2]
Music Instrument Professional has reviewed the Cavendish Classic model which it says is "an affordable, compact piano built around a solid spruce soundboard. A family-focused instrument retailing at under £5,000, the Classic is built in the traditional way, with all wooden action and parts. The Chatsworth 125 was designed in the style of a 1920s British upright. From the cabinet maker build, solid walnut paneled case to the British ash and oak used in the pedal mechanism, this is a fairly unique specimen." [8]
The company produces around 50 instruments per year. [1]
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork, was a British architect and noble often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Earl of Cork, Burlington never took more than a passing interest in politics despite his position as a Privy Counsellor and a member of both the British House of Lords and the Irish House of Lords. His great interests in life were architecture and landscaping, and he is remembered for being a builder and a patron of architects, craftsmen and landscapers, Indeed, he is credited with bringing Palladian architecture to Britain and Ireland. His major projects include Burlington House, Westminster School, Chiswick House and Northwick Park.
Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland.
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has been rivalled in political influence perhaps only by the marquesses of Salisbury and the earls of Derby.
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist, and socialite. She was the youngest and last-surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society in the 1930s and 1940s.
Bolton Abbey Estate in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, England, takes its name from a 12th-century Augustinian monastery of canons regular, now known as Bolton Priory. The priory, which was closed in the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by King Henry VIII, is in the Yorkshire Dales, which lies next to the village of Bolton Abbey.
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, was an English Army officer, Whig politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 until 1684 when he inherited his father's peerage as Earl of Devonshire and took his seat in the House of Lords. Cavendish was part of the "Immortal Seven" which invited William of Orange to depose James II of England as part of the Glorious Revolution, and was rewarded for his efforts by being elevated to the Duke of Devonshire in 1694.
William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, was a British nobleman and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1729 when he inherited the Dukedom.
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the first son of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Catherine Hoskins. He is also a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of King Charles III through the king's maternal great-grandmother.
Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Andrew Cavendish until 1944 and Marquess of Hartington from 1944 to 1950, was a British peer and politician. He was a minister in the government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and is also known for opening Chatsworth House to the public.
Jamie Cullum is an English jazz-pop singer, pianist, 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 studio albums, three compilation albums, one live album and twenty-four singles. Since April 2010, he has presented a weekly Tuesday evening jazz show on BBC Radio 2.
William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington was a British politician and British Army officer. He was the elder son of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, and therefore the heir to the dukedom. He was killed in action in the Second World War during fighting in the Low Countries in September 1944 whilst leading a company of the Coldstream Guards.
Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, digital pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was founded in August 1927.
Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire,, is an English peer. He is the only surviving son of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, and his wife, the former Deborah Mitford. He succeeded to the dukedom following the death of his father on 3 May 2004. Before his succession, he was styled Earl of Burlington from 1944 until 1950 and Marquess of Hartington between 1950 and 2004. His immediate family are owner-occupiers of Chatsworth House with an estimated net worth of £910 million, and own large estates in Derbyshire, North Yorkshire and Ireland.
Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was a British courtier who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
Charlotte Elizabeth Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, 6th Baroness Clifford was the daughter of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and Lady Dorothy Savile. From 1748 until her death, she was married to William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, later the 4th Duke of Devonshire and Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Schimmel is a German piano maker with factories in Braunschweig, Germany and Kalisz, Poland. Their product line has been described as "the most highly awarded German piano".
Robert Wornum (1780–1852) was a piano maker working in London during the first half of the 19th century. He is best known for introducing small cottage and oblique uprights and an action considered to be the predecessor of the modern upright action which was used in Europe through the early 20th century. His piano manufacturing business eventually became Robert Wornum & Sons and continued half a century after his death.
Laura Cavendish, Countess of Burlington is a British fashion consultant. She is the daughter of Richard Roundell, deputy chairman of Christie's, and his wife, Anthea, both of Dorfold Hall, a Jacobean house in Cheshire.
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