On June 18 and 19, 2025, we were at the Mercatorhalle with a Welte cabinet from 1909 and a Disklavier from 2014 as part of a foyer exhibition accompanying the 11th Philharmonic Concert of the Duisburg Philharmonic. The announcement there read: “Under the motto ‘Time Machine’, the 11th Philharmonic Concert, part of the Duisburg Philharmonic’s ‘New Paths’ project, offers a journey back in time: the program refers to a concert performed exactly 100 years ago as part of a music festival of the city of Duisburg. It saw the premiere of Paul Hindemith’s ‘Concert for Orchestra’, conducted by the prominent general music director Paul Scheinpflug.
Also on the program 100 years ago: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and music by Rudi Stephan, who was then one of the most promising young composers before he fell tragically young in the First World War. Instead of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Axel Kober has programmed his Fourth Piano Concerto, in which the young British pianist and rising star Isata Kanneh-Mason makes her debut with the orchestra. And as a musical bow to the former general music director, there is also the ‘Shakespeare Overture’ by Paul Scheinpflug. However, the concert is not meant merely as a reconstruction of Duisburg’s rich musical history, but also as a lively and critical engagement with history: the music festival back then took place on the occasion of the ‘Millennium Celebration of the Rhineland’, and thus very much in a German-nationalist context.”
Details can be found and concert tickets booked on the website of the Duisburg Philharmonic. This fascinating video shows impressions of Duisburg in 1925.
Our demonstrations aroused great enthusiasm – people marveled, filmed and even danced. Before and after each concert, we demonstrated Welte music rolls with music matching the program by Hindemith and Beethoven – both on the Welte cabinet and on the Disklavier – and were on hand to answer the many questions about the instruments, the music and the history of player pianos. The general manager and the head of the cultural department were delighted with the very positive response. More events will follow.
