Zubin Kanga performs a varied programme of works for piano and an assortment of technologies for Modulus Festival in Vancouver:

How does a pianist “play the internet”? Alexander Schubert’s WIKI-PIANO.NET is a hilarious and curious challenge that pairs piano, spoken instructions, and an internet score that can change at any time.

Laura Bowler’s SHOW(ti)ME investigates our physical and virtual selves. Over the course of the piece, you’ll witness an explosive magnification of the minutia of being a pianist, contorted through a collage of multimedia.

In Luke Nickel’s hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess, simulated roller coaster velocities become metronomic pulsations passing through wireless connections to small vibrating watches cueing a pianist to press keys that hit hammers on strings. It’s a wild – and fun! – ride.

And Zubin Kanga’s Metamemory is a dialogue between his real and artificial music memories, using a neural network created from Kanga’s own past to create music that is both monstrous and strangely beautiful.

More information and ticket bookings from Music on Main →

Join Zubin Kanga as he makes full use of the audio-visual capabilities of the Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub at Jesus College to showcase brand new, technology-focussed music that has not yet been heard in Oxford. He will perform on a range of instruments, including digital instruments, synthesizers, and a traditional piano.

The programme includes Alexander Schubert’s WIKI-PIANO.NET, Alex Groves’ Single Form (Swell), Luke Nickel’s hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess and Zubin’s own Hypnagogia (after Bach).

Full details and tickets here →

Zubin Kanga premieres new works by Nina Whiteman and Alex Groves alongside Luke Nickel’s hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess, his own Steel on Bone and Alexander Schubert’s WIKI-PIANO.NET in this programme for Music in the Round.

The programme uses a range of technologies from Cyborg Soloists industry partners. Whiteman uses Movesense sensors with Holonic Systems software alongside AI-manipulated field recordings from her daily commute to explore alien sonic environments through gesture. Groves uses ROLI’s LUMI keyboards, Nickel uses Soundbrenner’s haptic metronomes to feed tempi from rollercoasters onscreen to Zubin Kanga as he performs at the piano. Kanga’s Steel on Bone uses the motion-sensing capabilities of MiMU gloves to manipulate sounds from inside the piano.

And, finally, Alexander Schubert’s WIKI-PIANO.NET from 2018 explores the nature of internet culture with a score that can be shaped by audience contributions. Make your own contribution to this performance by adding or editing material for this piece at wiki-piano.net.

Nina Whiteman - cybird cybird (world premiere)

Alex Groves - Single Form (Swell) (world premiere)

Zubin Kanga - Steel on Bone (2021)

Luke Nickel - hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess (2022)

Alexander Schubert - WIKI-PIANO.NET (2018)

Book tickets from Music in the Round’s website →

A multimedia extravaganza, this unmissable concert by pianist, composer and technologist Zubin Kanga will incorporate roller-coaster visuals with themes ranging from the cult of Celtic river goddesses to the simplicity of wind in the trees. Zubin will perform on piano, newly invented digital instruments and interactive devices, in works composed by Christopher Fox, Luke Nickel, Georgia Rodgers, Louis D’Heudieres and Zubin himself.

Find full information and book tickets at the Kettle’s Yard website →

Cyborg Soloists: Hidden Vortices features new works created as part of Zubin Kanga’s music-technology research project Cyborg Soloists, supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and hosted at Royal Holloway. Zubin will perform and discuss new solo piano and multimedia works by Joanna Ward, Luke Nickel, CHAINES (Cee Haines), and his own composition, featuring a range of technological extensions of the piano and the performer including MiMU movement-sensor gloves, a new robotic piano mechanism, Soundbrenner haptic metronomes and ROLI keyboards with surface sensors. Mark Dyer (the project’s postdoctoral research assistant) will also present a performance by students of his new work, Mensura, featuring an ensemble wearing Soundbrenner Pulse devices, deriving games of tempo and rhythm from their shared heart rates.

Joanna Ward: Full and Hollow for remotely activated piano (designed and built by Sam Underwood and Richard Sewell)
Mark Dyer: Mensura for voices and Soundbrenner Pulses
CHAINES: Escape TERF Island for ROLI keyboards, touchpads and live electronics
Zubin Kanga: Steel on Bone for piano, MiMU gloves and live electronics
Luke Nickel: hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess for piano, Soundbrenner Cores, electronics, video and strobe lights

Free admission, booking required. Find out more and book tickets →