Block Toeplitz determinants, constrained KP and Gelfand-Dickey hierarchies

We propose a method for computing any Gelfand-Dickey tau function living in Segal-Wilson Grassmannian as the asymptotics of block Toeplitz determinant associated to a certain class of symbols. Also truncated block Toeplitz determinants associated to the same symbols are shown to be tau function for rational reductions of KP. Connection with Riemann-Hilbert problems is investigated both from the point of view of integrable systems and block Toeplitz operator theory. Examples of applications to algebro-geometric solutions are given.