Pianola Nova!
Pianola Nova is an interactive sculpture that links two acoustic pianos in different locations. Each piano plays the other in almost real time so as one piano plays, the other re-creates the performance. Perform to people in one city while playing in another. Play live duets remotely, with a friend or a complete stranger. And explore other possibilities opened up by the new technology behind the Pianola Nova.
It is a work in progress – an R&D project designed and built by Tinderbox Collective, in response to a Creative Informatics Challenge Project set by Pianodrome.
The lead artists are Luci Holland and Martin Disley from Tinderbox Collective, and we’ve worked with a great team including Ted Koterwas, Sam Healy, Yann Seznec, Alasdair Anderson, Lewis MacDonald, Dominika Jackowska, Oliver Entwisle and Old School Fabrications to help us along the way.
Leeds International Piano Festival
4th-19th September 2021
The very first exhibit of this sculpture connected two cities – Edinburgh & Leeds – through a musical portal for the duration of the Leeds International Piano Competition, which ran from 4 – 19 September 2021. It was part of the Leeds Piano Trail and formed one of 10 sculptures created by the Pianodrome to coincide with the Leeds Piano Competition .Â
One piano was set up in Summerhall in Edinburgh, and the other in the University of Leeds Student Union.  They could be played at any time, or you could book a slot to attempt a duet with an unknown musical date in the other city.
Musical Dating Service!
As part of the exhibition we organised a series of cross-city duets on this experimental musical sculpture in Edinburgh and Leeds, linking up pianists from both cities to take part in a musical ‘date’ via the Pianola Nova!
