Constellations

Sunday 22 June 2025, 4:30pm

Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Tickets: General £18, Student £9, Under 12s FREE with a paying adult

Pre-Concert Talk at 3:30pm

An interstellar exploration into the role of the soloist, technology in music, and the future of music-making.

Constellations is a bold collaboration with BCMG, French contemporary music ensemble L’Instant Donné, and pianist composer-technologist Zubin Kanga as ‘cyborg pianist’.

Together, we have co-commissioned new works that peer into the future and honour the legacy of Pierre Boulez in his centenary. BCMG and L’Instant Donné perform side-by-side, extending the piano with new technologies including digital instruments, sensory devices, and electronics.

Zubin Kanga also performs a new solo work commissioned through his music technology research project, Cyborg Soloists, combining a range of keyboards and sensors that explore new ways of creating and shaping sound.

Expect a concert of works for solo piano and ensemble full of sounds known and unknown, journeying into the future of contemporary performance.

Zubin Kanga Cyborg Soloist (Piano and Electronics)

Catherine Larsen-Maguire Conductor

L’Instant Donné

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Anne Castex (b.1993) Un tour volé au sablier des Vanités (2025) - BCMG Sound Investment World Premiere*

Lawrence Dunn (b.1991) Lorī (2025) - BCMG Sound Investment World Premiere*

Bethan Morgan-Williams (b. 1992) ILDIO (2025) - BCMG Sound Investment World Premiere

Zubin Kanga (b. 1982) Hypnagogia (after Bach) - for 'cyborg' piano solo

*Co-commissioned by Zubin Kanga as part of Cyborg Soloists, with the support of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and Royal Holloway, University of London.

This project is carried out with the support of Diaphonique, Franco-British-Irish fund for classical contemporary music in partnership with the SACEM, Friends of the French Institute Trust, British Council, Institut Français, Institut Français du Royaume-Uni, Centre National de la Musique, Culture Ireland and Salabert Fondation.

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