Music rolls and pneumatic instruments are a vital part of the history of recording and mechanical music. They provide a rich window into the technological, musical, cultural and economic history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Recent projects to preserve rolls by scanning and digitization have sparked wider interest in the field. This has allowed for technical studies of rolls, which are an early digital record of music making. Archival documents are also yielding insights into the business and technology of roll manufacturing. These are among the many diverse topics that have brought individuals together from around the world to share their work with rolls.

The 2nd Global Piano Roll Meeting will take place as an international conference in Switzerland at the Hochschule der Künste Bern and the Museum für Musikautomaten Seewen, 17–20 June 2022. The conference will include papers, presentations, and performances.

Program (pdf)

This conference continues the work of the 1st Global Piano Roll Meeting in Leipzig, 2018. The conference will be conducted in English. It is an international forum for enthusiasts and professionals working with paper rolls and pneumatic roll playing instruments.

There are no official measures of the Swiss Government about the Coronavirus. Masks are optional.

Bern is located practically in the middle of the three main airports in Switzerland (about 90 mins by public transport). From the airports in Zurich and Geneva, direct trains go to Bern every 30 minutes, in Basel-Mulhouse a bus will drive you the Basel main station where again you can catch a train to Bern every 30 minutes.
The conference location is best accessible by bus Nr. 10 (direction Ostermundigen) from Bern main station until bus stop «Schönburg» (ca 10 mins). Via Schönburgstrasse or Papiermühlestrasse you then arrive at Papiermühlestrasse 13d (GoogleMaps)

Nearby hotels are e.g.
Alpenblick
prizeotel Bern-City
Hotel Ibis Bern-Expo
Novotel Bern-Expo
Hotel Jardin

Due to a Rolling Stones concerts on Friday evening, many hotels in Bern are already booked out. Further accomodations may be found via Airbnb or in nearby towns as Worb or Stettlen, at least for that one night.

The last day of the symposium will be held in Seewen/SO (near Basel). A coach from Bern to Seewen and – in the evening – back to Bern relieves you from further transportation issues on that day. On its way back to Bern, the coach will also stop in Basel, if you prefer to get off there.

The call for papers (pdf) is closed.

Contacts:
Reto Witschi
Daniel Allenbach

Scientific Responsibility:
Sebastian Bausch
Kumaran Arul
Marc Widuch