Global Piano Roll Meetings
Almost exactly 100 years after the memorable Piano Roll Meeting in Buffalo (1918) to standardize music roll formats, at the end of 2017 we formulated the idea of establishing a regular global meeting of universities, museums, collectors and experts from 2018 to exchange ideas on topics related to pianolas and music rolls, share resources better and work together more intensively.
Building on the many initiatives and activities of recent decades by enthusiastic enthusiasts and institutions, e.g. the 2017 Cremona meeting "1st European Piano Roll Meeting”, dem “Hupfeld Symposium” 2017 in Leipzig haben wir zusammen mit der Stanford University unsere Idee weiter entwickelt, ein globales Forum für den regelmäßigen Wissensaustausch zur Förderung der Zusammenarbeit in wichtigen Forschungsgebieten zu etablieren. Aus dieser Idee entstand das GPRM - das Global Piano Roll Meeting mit unterschiedlichen Konferenzformaten.
1ST GLOBAL PIANO ROLL MEETING 2018
Together with Stanford University and the GRASSI Museum, a global meeting of universities, museums, collectors and experts took place for the first time in this form on July 25, 2018 in Leipzig. We welcomed almost 50 experts (on site and virtually) from many countries around the world. The meeting was a great success and led to better mutual acquaintance, good networking and many concrete next steps.
The following institutions were among the participants of this first meeting in Leipzig: Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Mechanical Music Machines, Technical Museum Brno, Mekaanisen Musiikin Museo, Deutsches Museum Munich, Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig, Institut für Musikwissenschaft der LMU München, Augustiner Museum Freiburg, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Gesellschaft für Selbstspielende Musikinstrumente, University di Pavia, AMMI, Nederlandse Pianola Sociëteit, Pianola Museum Amsterdam, Ringve Music Museum, Player Piano Group, Musical Museum Brentford, Stanford University, Biblioteca de Catalunya, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Universitat de Barcelona, Bern University of the Arts.
If you are interested in the contents and results of this meeting, please contact us - we will only send them on request by name.
2nd Global Piano Roll Meeting 2022
The desire for a regular and more intensive format led to the planning for the 2nd Global Piano Roll Meeting, originally planned for 2020 in Bern / Seewen - or postponed to June 17-20, 2022 due to the corona situation.
In the meantime, we have established a virtual conference format, the GPRM Preludes, i.e. 2-3 hours online with interesting lectures, musical interludes and discussion rounds. The organization of the 2nd Global Piano Roll Meeting in close cooperation between the three organizers, Bern University of Arts, Stanford University and FASZINATIONPIANOLA - together with the Musical Instrument Museum Seewen - was a great success. The more than 35 lectures were recorded on video and are available on request.
Details of the event can be found on the Bern University of the Arts website.
3rd Global Piano Roll Meeting 2024
We are delighted that the 3rd Global Piano Roll Meeting will take place from 26-28 July 2024 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), University of Sydney. Located in the heart of the Sydney Central Business District next to the Sydney Opera House, Botanic Gardens and Sydney Harbour and Bridge, SCM has world-class facilities including concert halls, instrument collections, recording facilities and atrium spaces. SCM is located in the former stables of Government House, which is on unceded Aboriginal land - the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, an ancient and important site for music and dance ceremonies and knowledge exchange.
Online streaming will be available for all those who will not be attending, as well as access to the recorded presentations on request afterwards.
The programme (draft) with many great presentations and performances for the conference is online..
Contact persons are:
Kumaran Arul (karul2@stanford.edu)
Sebastian Bausch (sebastian.bausch@hkb.bfh.ch)
Neal Peres Da Costa (neal.peresdacosta@sydney.edu.au)
Peter Philipps (peter@petersmidi.com)
Marc Widuch (info@faszinationpianola.de)
