It was love at first hearsay when pianist Jennifer Hymer learned about a new piece written for toy piano: Kalimba by Karlheinz Essl. Since then, she has become addicted to this little instrument, which was originally intended for children but gained more serious recognition in the music world after it appeared in John Cage’s Suite for Toy Piano (1948).

The Non-Piano/Toy Piano Weekend has been held in Hamburg since 2014. The festival is a platform for a group of toy piano pianists to perform unusual piano repertoire as well as to sound a variety of unusual instruments and devices, including, for example, typewriters, melodicas, kalimbas, balloons, and toy instruments.

The festival has become a popular annual event in Hamburg: a weekend full of toy pianos, unique musical guests, virtuoso performances and a diverse mix of (musical) styles from pop, classical and transcriptions of classical music to performance art, the latest compositions of contemporary music and current trends from the music electronics scene.

Through an imaginative use of toy and ‘real’ instruments and our carefully planned programs, we present a weekend that is entertaining, fun, thought-provoking and horizon-expanding in equal measure.

Email:
kontakt@nonpiano-toypiano.de