Toy Piano Festival goes on virtually

Scott Paulson, the man behind the annual Toy Piano Festival at UC San Diego, wasn’t about to give up on 2020. So when it came time to decide if this year’s festival was going to happen, the only answer was a “yes.” Virtually, of course.

The 20th annual Toy Piano Festival, hosted by the UC San Diego Library, will be a free virtual event this year, with new music set to premiere at noon Wednesday.

Playing new works for toy pianos and songs from “The Cat in the Hat Songbook,” Paulson, the festival’s director, will be joined by Sue Palmer, Andrea Wingen, Kenneth Herman, Barbara Scheidker, Samara Rice, Christian Hertzog, Peter Flynn, Alex Segal, Gail Gipson, Kiera Sullivan, Linda Kernohan, Philippe Robles-fradet, Janice Kelsh, Judy Schulman and Jim Chute.

Paulson said “many of the premieres at this year’s festival will merely be 20 measures or 50 seconds, in tribute to the 20th anniversary of the festival and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Geisel Library building.”

“Doing the festival virtually has opened up opportunities to reconnect with past supporters,” he said. And, he added, there are countless other positives: “2020 offers fine sight lines and extra moments to see things up close ... and travel-free festival participation allows for some long-overdue reunions.”

“Janice Kelsh, of the Miniature Piano Enthusiast Club, flew out from Maryland for our first annual Toy Piano Festival in 2001, and she returns for our 20th annual gathering without having to worry about impromptu in-flight etudes jingling down from overhead compartment storage,” Paulson said.

“But this year, we will certainly miss our lively in-person audiences at both Geisel Library and our traditional follow-up site visit to Downtown San Diego Central Library, (but) we‘re grateful we can mark our 20th virtually,” Paulson said via email.

The event is free, but registration is required, at: http://bit.ly/toy-piano-ucsd