NOV. 29th at Dixon Place (NYC) 7:30 PM
Join us in an evening of DJ’ed, VJ’ed and live toy instrument performances at the Dixon Place, NYC’s Laboratory for Performance, located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Our kick-off party will take place in their cozy lounge, featuring rare footage of toy instrument performers as well as recordings of toy piano music, ranging from new classical works to other songs/pieces the toy piano has played a significant role. If you have a video/audio piece that you think might fit into this idea, please email me at phyllis at phyllischen dot net.
Aside from this eclectic mix of media, we will also have short live sets performed by Matt Evans, Ranjit Bhatnagar, Cuddle Magic, Margaret Leng Tan, Angelica Negron and Phyllis Chen.
DEC.1: AT THE GERSHWIN (8PM)
Tokyo-based pianist/improviser/toy pianist Takuji Kawai is traveling across the ocean to make his US debut at the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival. Join us at the Gershwin Hotel to hear his unique solo toy piano works written by himself and other Japanese composers. Takuji will be performing on a Kawai toy piano, an instrument only distributed in Japan.
Opening for Takuji this evening will be the New York premiere of eminent Chinese composer Ge Gan-Ru’s Hard Hard, Hard! performed by Malaysian pianist/toy pianistYen-lin Goh. Come see her play an assortment of toy instruments in this new monodrama, a sequel toWrong Wrong Wrong! (originally written for Margaret Leng Tan.) You can read more and watch a video of Margaret’s performance of the original monodrama on our artist blog.
$10 at door
DEC.3: TOY BONANZA (8PM)
In our three-hour toy instrument marathon, this evening will premiere the winning and selected works from this year’s UnCaged Toy Piano submissions. Aside from these works, performers will also play what they do best, whether it’s a toy piano and electronics improvisation, works written specifically for them, or showing off what the robot toy piano can play! In the flexible and beautiful 3000 square-foot Dimenna Center located at 37 Arts, we will set up separate performance stations, one for each artist performing that evening. People are invited to come and go between sets, have a drink with us in the lounge and duck back into the hall for more! In the lounge you will see Ranjit’s jello-toy piano and robot toy piano, as well as Jan Huling’s beautiful beaded toy piano. Artists include Takuji Kawai, David Smooke, Ranjit Bhatnagar, Margaret Leng Tan and Phyllis Chen. $15 at door