The UnCaged Toy Piano Festival
Ft. Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields), Curt Sydnor, Pippin Barnett, Aliya Ultan, Alex Peh, Hwayoung Seo, Phyllis Chen, Elizabeth Margit Distefano and the UnCaged Toychestra.
In 2026, the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival returns as a three day festival at its new home– the beautiful Hudson Valley. The definition of toy piano expands beyond plastic keys and includes other rare and common keyboard instruments. The 2026 festival will unleash the inaugural UnCaged Toychestra, a toy instrument ensemble, led by Liz Distefano and Phyllis Chen.
Described by The New York Times as "meticulously whimsical," the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival is a three-day event celebrating toy instruments, new music, and creative collaborations with artists and community members on keyboards. Founded in 2007 by New Paltz resident Phyllis Chen, the biennial festival took place in New York City until 2019. The festival was greeted with great enthusiasm each time, inspiring concertgoers and performers to cross state borders and oceans to attend.
In October 2026, the UnCaged Toy Piano Festival will return as a three-day event at its new home—the beautiful Hudson Valley. The inaugural UnCaged Toychestra, a toy instrument ensemble community jam band (supported by the SUNY New Paltz SURE grant), led by Elizabeth Margit Distefano and Phyllis Chen, will be a cornerstone feature at every event.
UnCaged Festival closes at the Falcon in Marlboro with a gathering of diverse keyboardists and musicians.
Festival highlights include an appearance from Stephin Merritt (Magnetic Fields), who was recently named one of the Top 30 Living American Singer-Songwriters by The New York Times. Stephin, the composer for Coraline: The Musical, will make a rare performance singing songs from Coraline, with UnCaged founder Phyllis Chen playing toy instruments.
The program will also feature original works by composer, pianist, and YouTuber Nahre Sol, as well as Richmond-based musicians Curt Sydnor and Pippin Barnett in a duo project for synthesizers and drums.
To close the festival, UnCaged keyboardists will perform under the direction of cellist Aliya Ultan, co-director of the Kingston Creative Music Studios, in a live improvisation on various keyboards with UnCaged artists.
UnCaging the Toy Piano Since 1872…
Invented in 1872 by Schoenhut, the toy piano was considered an educational toy for children. John Cage’s seminal work, Suite For Toy Piano (1947) inspired classical musicians to play toy piano as a “serious” instrument. Though Cage is often thought of as the grandfather of the toy piano, we should remember that found objects and toys have been used for music-making by other unrecognized musicians/people who do not fit into western classical music or the academy. As an instrument with no set boundaries on how it can be used or performed, the toy piano inspires makers and musicians from all backgrounds to contribute to the repertoire