Dr. Peter Phillips (AUS) is a legend in the field of piano rolls and reproduction pianos. He is probably the only PhD doctor with a dissertation on the subject. His thesis with the title 'Piano Rolls and Contemporary Player Pianos: The Catalogues, Technologies, Archiving and Accessibility' is a standard work and here on the website of Sydney University. Equally valuable are many of his other publications, not only in the field of piano rolls, for example he is also the author of standard works in the field of electronics.
His interest in reproducing rolls was inspired by Denis Condon (1933-2012) in 1976. Peter is known and appreciated worldwide for his outstanding expertise and friendly helpfulness. Numerous study and research projects, events and concerts have only become possible thanks to his achievements and support. His achievements are particularly groundbreaking in the field of digitizing piano rolls and emulating midi files for modern self-playing systems such as the Bösendorfer CEUS project or the Yamaha Disklavier.
In this fascinating Video Peter explains his self-developed Roll-Reader, with which he can play the music directly on the Yamaha Disklavier from a Welte Rot music roll, for example. On his website 'PetersMidi', he offers thousands of titles as midi and audio at exceptionally low prices, as his main interest is music and its use. In numerous lectures and presentations all over the world, he shares his insights and inspires people for this topic. Here is a lecturePeter gave in the final year of his dissertation at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Thanks to his inexhaustible energy and passion, the successful 3rd Global Piano Roll Meeting in Sydney in 2024 was made possible. The Opening Concert and also the Second Concert show the high art of his midi emulations and his passion for this subject.
It was through Peter that I really immersed myself in this subject area. I owe him and his wonderful husband so much - our encounters are always extremely inspiring on a human and professional level. I feel very honored and touched by his dedication.
