Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Virtual Fireside with the CEO of Hailun USA- Basilios Strmec

Dear Pianoworld Community,

we would like to invite you to a "virtual" online fireside with the CEO of Hailun USA, Basilios A. Strmec, this Friday, May 7th, from 5-6 pm EST.

We would like this to be a chance for us to directly communicate a little bit more about our company and brand. Mr. Strmec will answer questions that would be posed during the fireside. In order to use the time well, we would encourage you to post questions of interest beforehand or PM such questions to campanella12.

Sincerely,

Paula Thompson
Operations Manager

Hailun USA

Hi Ms. Thompson,

Is this webcast available from the hailun-pianos.com website? Also, is it going to be archived on your website for viewing at other times?

My questions:

How did Hailun Chen forge his relationships with the cast of characters which represent his international "mutt" squad of engineers. Was it pure serendipity?

Are there sound snippets of the "pedale harmonique" available? Or is it ever going to be built-into Hailun branded instruments (I understand it is only in Wendl & Lung for now).


Thank you,
Ryan Fogarty
--
Hailun HG-218

Dear Mr. Fogarty,

the "virtual fireside" will be held live on pianoworld this Friday, May 7th, from 5-6 pm. Mr. Strmec will share a little more about some projects that are in the works and answer questions that we have received from other participants. We invite interested participants to log on during that time and pose questions or submit them ahead of time. Mr. Strmec will answer "live". We hope this will be worthwhile and useful experience.

Sincerely,

Paula Thompson
Operations Manager

Hailun USA

I have PM'ed you a particular question I have for Mr. Strmc concerning an issue with Hailun pianos.

My question is if there really will be a crackling fireside and wine being served...

Norbert

This is a picture taken during a Quality Sensitivity Training (QST) Session in April 2010.

This is a picture of Mr. Keith Bowman who is a member of the Hailun Technical Circle explaining some quality details on a Hailun Grand Piano to the department heads of Hailun Factory.

Building a Hailun piano is very much a hands on process. Here is one our colleagues at work.

Some very special skill and attention is required for this task:

very cool pics, thanks for sharing!

Hailun Engineers with Translators

Dear Colleagues and Fellow Piano Enthusiast on Pianoworld,

We thought that it would be nice to provide the opportunity to answer questions on Pianoworld. In general, it is our policy to not post or get involved on this forum.- but felt that it would be helpful to provide a little more insight into Hailun.
I am responsible for the U.S. distribution of Hailun product. Hailun USA is a legally independent company from Hailun Piano Company and when I refer to “we” and “us” subsequently it is for simplicity’s sake. I would like to add two disclaimers: First, in the interest of being able to answer swiftly someone else will is typing my responses. Given that English is not my native language, there will be mistakes in grammar, style and punctuation. We will revisit our posting later and edit appropriately. Please overlook them in the meantime.
Secondly, there might be some topics or questions that I will not address due to corporate reasons.

We have received some questions (most of them today) and I will answer them first . Please feel free to post additional questions. Any questions, that we run out on time today- I will still answer later.

One of the first questions we received is from a participant in Canada. His question is:

Is there a special Hailun sound?

This is a really good question – and one that usually onaly manufacturers considered to be among the best- ask themselves. Hailun’s philosophy really is different from many other Asian manufactures. There are some really well built pianos that are in essence excellent copies of designs of more established brands and their pianos. Hailun is different in that we invited some of the most respected piano engineers to do “their own thing”.

Let me give you two examples:

Mr. Stephen Paulello designed the Hailun Grand 218 which has been very positively received among institutions. The design is an original and you can see that when you look at different features of the scale design and how some technical issues have been addressed. Mr. Paulello is a concert pianist as well and approaches his piano design from that unique perspective. However, Mr. Paulello himself was significantly shaped as an apprentice at the Bechstein Factory and his tonal preference reflects that.

Another example is Frank Emerson. Mr. Emerson worked for many years with Baldwin - a company that was synonymous with the American sound tradition and beloved by many, many artists. Frank designed the Hailun Grand 198 which is very popular with our retail customers that are advanced players. The 198 certainly has that warm and yet strong sound that Baldwin exemplified during its golden years. And yet the Hailun Grand 198 is a newly designed piano – created by Mr. Emerson based on his accumulated experience.

So when it comes to sound- both instruments the Hailun Grand 218 and the Hailun Grand 198 represent two very different sound inclinations. And yet both are musically very convincing.

However, in general I believe that Hailun grands have a warmer character - and with lush lower octaves.

The next part is about how Hailun Chen came about his international “mutt” team of engineers? And the story behind it.