MEDIA RELEASE

 

Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist and contemporary music specialist

Zubin Kanga

to perform

PIANO EX MACHINA

Australian Premiere

Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane

April, 2019

Following his acclaimed 2015 DARK TWIN and 2016 CYBORG PIANIST tour, award-winning London-based Australian pianist and contemporary music specialist Zubin Kanga returns in a program of ground-breaking works for piano and multimedia by some of the hottest composers from around the world.

“Kanga is an equally exciting pianist, effortlessly virtuosic and in complete command of this (quite literally) electrifying modern repertoire.” LIMELIGHT Magazine

PIANO EX MACHINA is the latest mind-bending piano and multimedia international tour by award-winning London-based pianist, Zubin Kanga. Kanga returns to Australia this April to perform newly commissioned ground-breaking works exploring video games, internet culture, 80s action cinema, sci-fi, 3D motion sensors, interactive visuals, analogue synths, stop-motion animation and Artificial Intelligence. In an Australian premiere, leading German composer, Alexander Schubert’s new work, WIKI-PIANO.NET, will be performed. The work is created via a website that allows the public to compose and edit the score, just like a Wikipedia article, creating a constantly evolving work that explores internet culture. No two performances are the same!

The performances feature new works by some of today’s most pioneering composers for music and multimedia, including five Australian composers:

Alexander Schubert (Germany) explores the nature of internet culture, using a website (WIKI-PIANO.NET) to allow the audience to co-compose the work especially for each performance

Jon Rose (Australia) Legendary composer and improviser, Jon Rose creates a wild virtuosic whirlwind of sound with a 3D hand sensor.

Kate Neal (Australia) collaborates with stop-motion animator Sal Cooper to create a whimsical exploration of the kinship between cars and pianos.

Tristan Coelho (Australia) combines film of rhythmic scenes from around the city in a funky, video game-inspired work.

Ben Carey (Australia) uses AI and 3D scans of objects to create a sophisticated live sound and video interaction with the piano, inspired by the flocking of starlings.

Adam de la Cour (UK) continues his wacky series of B-movie style works, this time recreating scenes from 1980s spy and action movies, with the secret agent going undercover as a cocktail pianist to infiltrate the sinister Steinway Clan.

Zubin Kanga (Australia) creates a series of elusive multimedia portraits of friends and musical colleagues, with sound and image in counterpoint.

Program

ALEXANDER SCHUBERT (Germany) – WIKI-PIANO.NET

KATE NEAL (Australia) – Novel Piano

TRISTAN COELHO (Australia) – Rhythm City

JON ROSE (Australia) – Ballast

ZUBIN KANGA (Australia/UK) – Transformations

BENJAMIN CAREY (Australia) – Taking the Auspices

ADAM DE LA COUR (UK) – Transplant the Movie 2!: Operation ‘Re-Rise’ Dark Return

ABOUT ZUBIN KANGA

Zubin Kanga is a pianist, composer, improviser and technologist. Over the last decade he has established his reputation in Europe and Australia as a leading innovator of new approaches to the piano. His work in recent years has focused on new models of interaction between a live musician and new technologies, using film, AI, motion capture, 3D modelling, animation and virtual reality.

Zubin has performed at many international festivals including the BBC Proms, Cheltenham Festival, London Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), ISCM World New Music Days, BIFEM, Melbourne Festival, Sydney Festival (Australia), Manifeste Festival (France), Klang Festival (Denmark), Darmstadt (Germany) and Borealis Festival (Norway). He has performed several concerti under the composer’s baton, including with Thomas Adès and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and with Beat Furrer and the London Sinfonietta.

Zubin has collaborated with many of the world’s leading composers including Thomas Adès, Michael Finnissy, George Benjamin, Nicole Lizée, Steve Reich, Liza Lim, and Alexander Schubert and premiered more than 100 new works. He is a member of Ensemble Offspring, one of Australia’s leading contemporary music ensembles. As a composer, his solo piano works have been performed at the Waterloo and Bangor Festivals and broadcast on the BBC and ABC. He recently premiered a new viola and piano work with Brett Dean at Extended Play Festival in Sydney.

A Masters and PhD graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, Zubin recently finished a post as post-doctoral researcher at the University of Nice and IRCAM, Paris and is currently the Leverhulme Research Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London, writing a book on musician-technology interactions.

zubinkanga.com

10 April: MELBOURNE (Ian Potter Southbank Centre). Booking and Details

13 April: SYDNEY (Sydney Conservatorium of Music): Booking and Details

24 April: PERTH (Studio Underground, State Theatre of WA): Booking and Details

26 April: BRISBANE (Queensland Conservatorium of Music): Booking and details

FURTHER INFORMATION / INTERVIEWS / IMAGES /VIDEOS

 

For more information please contact:

Jacqui Bonner E: jb@jacquibonnermarketing.com P: 0411 473 198

 

For images visit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f9ebjyrwg8v2ae3/AACZp5cRiaXt16fsuiRXjbtda?dl=0

 

For footage of past performances please click here http://www.zubinkanga.com/listenwatch/

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Piano Ex Machina is made possible with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts and Creative Partnerships Australia.