Call for submissions

Dear composer,

This year, for the first time, Gaudeamus collaborates with the UnCaged Toy Piano (US) and Conlon Foundation (NL) on a joint call for submissions for the 2017 Robot Keyboard Prize. We are seeking adventurous compositions for Ranjit Bhatnagar's midi-controlled Robot Toy Piano, for which we encourage innovative ways of integrating electronics. The prize for 1st place is a performance at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek in Utrecht and a performance at the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival in New York!

With the Robot Toy Piano New York-based sound artist Ranjit Bhatnagar redesigned the toy piano. Invented in 1872, the toy piano was mostly considered an educational toy for children. It was not until John Cage’s seminal work “Suite For Toy Piano” in 1947 that single-handedly turned the toy piano into a concert instrument. In recent decades, a growing number of musicians and audience members have embraced this instrument for its freshness and un-assuming yet quirky quality. With his new design Bhatnagar tries to create a wider range of possibilities for the toy piano, by removing the keyboard and using midi-in data to play the toy piano. The functioning midi range is: midi numbers 36-64, pitch names [C-3 to E-5], which sound a Major Third below the corresponding pitch names/midi numbers.

Do you see it as a challenge to compose a piece for Bhatnagar's new instrument? And would you like to develop more idiomatic repertoire for the toy piano so that it becomes its own artistic entity? Enter your submission for the 2017 Robot Keyboard Prize before the 1st of May. Check the websites of Conlon and UnCaged or the attached PDF for more detailed information about the instrument and updates.