Lucerne Piano Festival: "PIANO 99"

November 18 - 21, 1999
Lucerne, Switzerland


Pianists: Radu Lupu, Jonathan Gilad, Chick Corea, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Maria João Pires and András Schiff


Player-Piano Builder and Expert: Douglas Heffer - Pneumatique Contemporaine - from Paris, France


Pianolas: 1905 German 'Welte-Mignon' expression player ... and a modern 'Duo-Art' console expression player, created and built by Monsieur Heffer.

(Both of these piano-players - old and new - are attached to the keyboard of a pianoforte, performing expression arrangements while being electrically-pumped. Marginal perforations control the dynamics of the mechanism, as well as the Soft and Sustaining pedal effects.)

Program for Lucerne Piano Festival

The Pianola portion of this Festival consists of 3 separate programs: "Piano-Nostalgie", "Rollen-Einspielungen" and "Golden Age Concert" - all featuring Douglas Heffer's 1905 German "Welte-Mignon" and his spectacular NEW "Duo-Art" player, the latter of which has been featured on CD Sets published in Paris, and closing with ARTCRAFT Music Rolls on the comprehensive program.

These presentations will be held at the Hotel Montana in the Marianischer Saal - an Art Deco Salon which will provide the appropriate setting for the mechanical music performances. "Piano-Nostalgie" is scheduled for Sunday, November 14 at 6:30 p.m. [Note: This event has been SOLD OUT!]

"Rollen-Einspielungen"
takes place in the Marianischer Saal on Wednesday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. [Tickets are still available at this time.]

"Golden Age Concert"
- also in the Marianischer Saal - is scheduled for Saturday, November 20, 1999 at 11 a.m. The brochure states: "This matinee is mainly intended for piano enthusiasts who wish to compare roll interpretations and discuss recordings." [Tickets are still available at this time.]

If you are planning to attend this Festival in Switzerland, go to the Website for further information: http://www.lucernemusic.ch

The Duo-Art portion of these Pianola programs will consist of ARTCRAFT Music Rolls only as the Maine-made Interpretive Arrangements are the only perforated selections which complement the virtuoso keyboard artists as well as demonstrate "the higher potential" of the pneumatic player instruments.

Moreover, the hottest and most syncopated ARTCRART Duo-Art rolls will be featured at the Lucerne Piano Festival ... the focus being on Ragtime extravaganzas and jazz-oriented music, concluding with the acclaimed arrangement of LION TAMER RAG, which is based upon the live performances of pianist Mark Lutton (from N.H., USA). "Your rolls hold the attention of an audience far better than the old ones," Monsieur Heffer said on a recent telephone call, and so ... the 'stars' of the Festival will be living keyboard pianists and fantastic modern ARTCRAFT Rolls for the Duo-Art 'reproducing' player!

Douglas Heffer, by the way, was part of the BALLET MECANIQUE project of 1990, which led to a new 'reconstructed' arrangement by Mr. Henderson. at ARTCRAFT in Maine ... presented the next year in Stockholm via the auspices of Anders Wahlgren and Swedish TV-Radio - a 1920s avant-garde Pianola+film presentation. He also commissioned the super-spectacular arrangement of LINNMANIA-MARSEILLAISE in 1989 ... composed by Björn Linnman (of Sweden) for the French Bicentennial -- a music roll in 88-Note and Duo-Art formats which does "everything possible" in the perforated roll medium!

His shop is located at 2, rue Achille Martinet, Paris, France F-75018.

Notes by L. Douglas Henderson - ARTCRAFT Music Rolls, Wiscasset, ME 04578 USA — Tel.: (207) 882-7420 — Home Page for ARTCRAFT Rolls