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The 4th Global Piano Roll Meeting – Day 1

Date and Time
Friday August 7th, 2026
9:00am - 9:00pm
Location
Braun Music Center
541 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
Campbell Recital Hall
About this event

The 4th Global Piano Roll Meeting (GPRM) will take place at Stanford University, August 7–9, 2026. This is the leading international forum for music roll scholars, performers, archivists, and enthusiasts. The conference will take place over three days and include paper sessions, concerts, roll playing instruments, and social events. Topics include the historical study of piano and organ rolls, performers, audiences, and repertoires; pneumatic instruments; roll manufacturing; archival preservation and access; roll collections; performance studies; and performance practices. 

Day 1 Program of Events

8:30am – Registration

9:00am – Welcome from GPRM committee

9:30am – Marc Widuch
The Welte Recording Studios in Freiburg and Leipzig

10:00am – Sebastian Bausch
Deciphering the Hupfeld DEA Expression System

10:30am – Break

10:50am – Hermann Gottschewski
Roll Editors in the Earliest Years of Welte Mignon Piano Rolls: The case of WM0198 in the Condon Collection

11:20am – Artis Wodehouse, Bill Ooms, Peter Phillips
Transcribing Mahler’s Performance Captured in 1905 on WM 769: Symphony #5, Trauermarsch

12:05pm – Lunch

1:30pm – Manuel Bärtsch, Pedro Blundi d’Avila, Cecilia Facchini
Enlarging Performance Analysis: What Shall We Do with Dynamics in Roll Research?

2:40pm – Joyce Tang 
Playing the Piano: Between Pianolist and Pianist in Harry Gill’s Caprice

3:10pm – Break

3:45pm – Jörg Holzman
Benjamin, Boym and Becoming a Phonola Player

4:15pm – Darius Kucinskas (Berkman Memorial Talk)
Bob Berkman and Ethnic Piano Rolls in the United States

4:45pm – Break

5:15pm – Concert 1: Bob Berkman Memorial Concert with Julian Dyer, pianola

6:30pm – End of Conference Day

Click here to access the full event program!

Admission Information 

  • Delegates: $110 – Includes paper presentation, attendance at special sessions, three lunches, coffee/tea breaks, access to optional tours.
  • General Admission (auditor): Free – registration required
  • Hourly paid parking is available in Tresidder Parking Lot 
Event Sponsor
Department of Music