GRAND OLE OPRY AND RYMAN AUDITORIUM RELY ON YAMAHA PIANOS

NASHVILLE (March 19, 2002)—Nashville wouldn't be "Music City, U.S.A." without the Grand Ole Opry, which has grown from a landmark 1920s radio show to a multi-venue entertainment empire. And neither the historic Ryman Auditorium nor the Grand Ole Opry itself would have quite the same sound without Yamaha pianos.

Few stages are as recognizable as the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and Yamaha pianos are used exclusively both there and at the Ryman Auditorium—the "Carnegie Hall of the South."

Gaylord Entertainment, which operates the entire Grand Ole Opry family of properties, has reaffirmed its commitment to Yamaha instruments in all its performance spaces. That also includes the Wildhorse Saloon, the Gaylord Opry Hotel, the Springhouse Golf Club and the new Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Fla. "We are a totally exclusive Yamaha company," says Gaylord Entertainment Account Manager Elizabeth Price.

The 2,200-seat Ryman, considered the "Carnegie Hall of the South," was home to the Grand Ole Opry broadcast until the show moved into the 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry in 1974, and the show returns to the Ryman for two months each year. The Opry has been the home of country music for generations, and artists from Roy Acuff and Hank Williams to modern superstars like Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire have performed there. Today, both legendary venues are equipped with Yamaha C7 7' 6" Concert Collection grand pianos.

"In our efforts to provide the best possible performance environment for our musicians and entertainers at the Grand Ole Opry, there was no doubt in our minds the piano on stage needed to be a Yamaha," says Grand Ole Opry General Manager Pete Fisher.

Just as the Opry's musical performances have grown to include a variety of genres in addition to country, the Opry family of properties has grown beyond its two principal theaters to include shopping malls, hotels, resorts and excursion boats, and Yamaha pianos are everywhere in this growing entertainment system.

Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon boasts a DGT2IIXG Disklavier GranTouch digital piano; the Gaylord Opry Hotel has three C3 6'1" Conservatory Collection grand pianos, one DGT2IIXG, one DC1A 5'3" Disklavier Mark III Series Full-Function grand piano and two MX1 Disklavier upright pianos to delight its guests; and the new Florida resort features eight Yamaha pianos in all, including two C3 6'1" Conservatory Collection grand pianos in a "dueling piano bar" and a 5'3" Conservatory Classic Collection grand piano in each of the two presidential suites. On the water, the Opry's General Jackson and Music City Queen excursion boats are equipped with Yamaha pianos as well.

"Our musicians that play at the Opry really demanded that we have a Yamaha product," Price says. "And we were very happy to comply."