ES920 – Review by Harry the Piano
-by Harry the Piano
I’ve been playing the ES920 as my primary keyboard for six months now and I’m absolutely blown away with its capabilities. A wonderful piano sample with adjustable EQ to suit all live sound requirements, a beautiful action which is also fully adjustable and really excellent on-board speakers enabling a decent percentage of smaller acoustic indoor gigs without further amplification.
As somebody who is a professional pianist by trade I always feel that musicians such as myself judge weighted 88 note keyboards by a slightly harsher standard but the ES920 really does come up trumps in all respects. The clarity, warmth and depth of sound is truly remarkable and all demands placed on the action including lightning hammer repetitions are dealt with effortlessly.
I’ve used the instrument in a variety of settings from outdoor gigs with a large audience to more intimate inside events, studio recording for film scores and as a home keyboard in all genres from virtuoso classical to my daily lockdown blues jazz series. It is an absolute joy in every respect.
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About the author
Lara Melda won the BBC Young Musician 2010 competition, performing Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final round with Vasily Petrenko and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff. Since then, she has become a regular artist on BBC Radio 3, performed at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, travelled the world performing concertos with renowned orchestras and giving recitals in many countries including the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg (Germany), Les Sommets Musicaux in Gstaad (Switzerland), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (Germany), Auditorium San Mattia Ai Crociferi in Palermo (Italy), Zorlu Center in Istanbul (Turkey), to name but a few.
Lara made her Wigmore Hall recital debut in 2017 and followed this with three more sold out recitals there in January, December 2018, November 2019 and May 2021. During the COVID pandemic Lara continued giving concerts via online platforms including recitals for many music festivals around the world and performed Mozart’s K595 with the Northern Chamber Orchestra.
In the summer of 2016 Lara graduated from the Royal College of Music with a first-class honours degree, where she studied with Ian Jones. She had begun piano lessons with Emily Jeffrey at the age of six and since 2017 continues working closely with Alfred Brendel. 2020 saw the release of her debut Chopin album. Most recently she curated a critically acclaimed multi-sensory Van Gogh immersive concert experience in collaboration with Exhibition Hub, where the audience and Lara’s playing become intertwined in a journey through Van Gogh’s life – the music and art together evoking different emotions, feelings and memories for each individual.
For more about Lara, visit www.laramelda.co.uk