Teotronico

TeoTronico is a pianist robot, conceived and designed by Matteo Suzzi at TeoTronica company, an Italian Start-Up based in Imola. Version 1.0, with 29 fingers, was completed in 2007. Starting from version 3.0 (2012), TeoTronico was implemented with 53 fingers driven by dynamically driven electromagnets, able to control the dynamic gradations of any acoustic piano. TeoTronico can read musical scores in digital or MIDI format, playing them on the piano in a literal way. It is also able to reproduce the piano roll recordings (converted into MIDI) of the great pianists of the past. From 2017 TeoTronico is also equipped with feet for the control of the sustain pedal of the piano. In 2012, after having discovered it by chance on Youtube, Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda invited TeoTronico to take part in his lecture-concert on piano musical expression.

TeoTronico is a mechanical MIDI player. It may reproduce a piano score literally, playing it from a midi file: it is therefore an ideal interpreter of repertoire for player-piano by Stravinsky, Hindemith, Nancarrow, Ligeti. TeoTronico can also take the “appearance” of a real pianist piano, playing MIDI files derived from piano rolls recorded by great pianists of the past, such as Busoni, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Hoffman. It can also play some “mirror-pianist” if connected to a digital piano played by a person (Roberto Prosseda, acting as “ghost-pianist”). In the “mirror-pianist” mode, TeoTronico can also play as a solo pianist with orchestra, in chamber ensembles and accompanist with singers, even remotely, miles away. Teo can also talk, sing and make funny facial expressions. It can reproduce written texts, grant or be dubbed in real time: in both modes, its lips movements are synchronized to the speech, in any language. Thus TeoTronico can interact with its interlocutors, even through his facial expressions: moves his head, mouth, eyes, eyelids and eyebrows. Equipped with proximity sensors, it can turn to the people who are approach it. When dubbed in real time, TeoTronico can answer questions from the audience. It can also perform with other musicians with an impressive versatility, if in “mirror-pianist” mode, with the assistance of a professional pianist.

In 2012 TeoTronico made his debut as a soloist at the Philharmonie in Berlin with the Berliner Symphoniker in a special family concert. TeoTronico with Roberto Prosseda has also played in similar educational contexts with the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and with Ankara's Baskent Orchestra at the Ankara Music Festival, performing Mozart's K 488 Concert. TeoTronico has performed more than 50 shows with Roberto Prosseda in their unique format “Robot Pianist Vs. Human Pianist”, appearing in the most important Italian concert venues, such as Teatro Pavarotti in Modena, Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, Politeama in Palermo, Museo del Violino in Cremona, and in several concert halls in Europe and Asia, such as the Xing Hai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, the Beijing Concert Hall in Beijing, the Symphony Hall in Shanghai, the Seongnam Arts Center of Seoul. In February 2015 TeoTronico debuted as “actor”in the stage show "Ci sarà una volta", staged at the Teatro Comunale di Latina, under the direction of Clemente Pernarella, with the participation of Roberto Prosseda and Valentina Lo Surdo. In 2013 on Raitre he was a guest of Stefano Bollani in the inaugural episode of "Sostiene Bollani". The Brazilian Globo TV has dedicated a reportage in the "Fantastico" program. On January 30th 2016 TeoTronico was the protagonist of an episode of the "It's Not Rocket Science" program broadcast in prime time by the English broadcaster iTV1. The robot also appeared on television programs of Discovery Channel (Canada), Channel 5 (UK), KBS and SBS (Korea). In 2017 he was invited by Chinese TV Hunan TV to play a duet with the famous soprano Zhang Ye, and by CCTV 1 for a television show with Lang Lang. He was also the protagonist of the World Robot Conference held in Beijing from 23 to 27 August 2017. TeoTronico is dedicatee of new compositions written ad hoc for its “expressive means” by various composers, including Nicola Campogrande, Stefano Ianne, Gabrio Taglietti and Michael Glenn Williams. TeoTronico also performs in singing and piano concerts, with pop and rock repertoire from the '70s and '80s.

Roberto Prosseda

Roberto Prosseda’s sensational discovery of new works by Mendelssohn made the headlines in Europe and led to several Decca releases. His albums have won much acclaim in the press, including the CHOC from Le Monde de la Musique Classique, the Diapason d’Or and Chamber Music CD of the Month in the UK’s Classic FM magazine. In 2014 Prosseda completed his 10-year project of recording Mendelssohn’s complete piano works for Decca in 10 CDs, also released in a Box-set in 2017 ("Mendelssohn Complete Piano Works"). Roberto Prosseda has performed regularly with some of the world’s most important orchestras, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Bruxelles Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Saatskapelle Weimar, Sinfonia Lahti, Berliner Symphoniker, Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Leipzig Gewandhaus.

He played under the baton of David Afkham, Marc Albrecht, Christian Arming, Harry Bickett, Riccardo Chailly, Pietari Inkinen, Yannik Nezeit-Seguin, George Pehlivanian, Dennis Russel-Davies, Tugan Sokhiev, Jurai Valcuha, Jan Willem de Vriend. With the Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Chailly, he recorded live the 3rd Piano Concerto in E minor by Mendelssohn, released on the Decca International label in September 2009. Roberto Prosseda is also very active in musical divulgation. He wrote the book “Il Pianoforte” for Edizioni Curci (2013) and made three documentaries dedicated to Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt (Euroarts). He is artistic director of Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and president of Associazione Mendelssohn Italia.

Matteo Suzzi

Matteo Suzzi (Imola, 1977) is the creator and builder of TeoTronico and other robots designed for edutainment. His passion for robots was born when he was a child. He began to give substance to his imagination giving shape to mechatronic objects of all sorts, reusing everything that came to hand: from pieces of blenders to remote controls, radio alarms and other appliances. Stripped by R2D2, the famous Star Wars robot, he soon arrived at the design and self-production of robots for entertainment and learning. In 2007 he founded Teotronica, a company specializing in the design and construction of entertainment robots. Keeping up with the times is the philosophy of Teotronica and the use of new technologies on modeling and 3D printing are proof of this. Very sensitive to issues related to environmental sustainability, Matteo Suzzi is also active in environmental education projects for schools, such as "Riciclarobot" and "Robidone".