Zubin Kanga: Hhiiddeenn Vvoorrttiicceess
?Zubin Kanga performs new works exploring cyborg pianism by Louis d’Heudieres, Alwynne Pritchard, Luke Nickel and himself, combining the piano with a range of sensors, synthesizers, strobe lights, electronics, video, an instrument made of glass and other technologies.
? Louis d’Heudieres’ Reflects dans Sequana (2022) is a speculative fiction about Debussy’s piano music and a Celtic river goddess cult. Making use of a sampler keyboard, electronics and video, it looks at traditional piano music through a warped lens, incorporating themes of pianistic technique, romantic hero-worship, and ritual cleansing.
Alwynne Pritchard’s Heart of Glass (2019 rev. 2021) takes inspiration from Werner Herzog’s experimentations with hypnosis in 1976 film, Heart of Glass, to create a work in which the pianist seems to be hypnotised, performing around the piano (and in multiple personas on screen) in a performance inspired by drag, butoh dance and trance states.
In his 2021 piece, Steel on Bone, Zubin Kanga uses MiMU sensor gloves to morph and granulate the delicate, visceral and violent sounds from the inside of the piano.
Luke Nickel’s hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess uses Soundbrenner’s haptic metronomes alongside dreamlike roller-coaster visuals and the sounds of Ravel filtered through an AI, in a play of vertiginous tempi between the hands.
The performance is part of Cyborg Soloists, a multi-year artistic-research project innovating new types of interactions between musicians and new technologies, supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
Alistair Zaldua and Sam Bailey will improvise short pieces for violin and piano before Zubin Kanga’s performance.
Alistair Zaldua is a composer, improviser and violinist based in Manchester. In addition to his work as a solo improviser, he performs in a duet for organ and live electronics with Lauren Redhead. Current projects involve duet improvisation work with Alwynne Pritchard (Bergen) and Franziska Baumann (London/Bern).
Sam Bailey is a musician, artist and teacher who brings people together through culture and makes exciting things happen. Based in Canterbury (UK), Sam’s background is in classical music, jazz and free improvisation with a focus on collaborative performances working with orchestras, dancers, puppets, rock bands, chefs, poets, film makers, podcasters and forests.
sambailey.space
alistair-zaldua.de
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This is the first event in Free Range’s 2022 Spring Season (follow @Freerangecanterbury to hear about the Autumn Season programme).
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
zubinkanga.com
lukenickel.com
louisdheudieres.com
alwynnepritchard.co.uk
sambailey.space
alistair-zaldua.de
http://royalholloway.ac.uk/…/research…/cyborg-soloists/
Image courtesy of Zubin Kanga,
