Future Music at RNCM

Future Music is an intriguing one-day festival at RNCM which looks at current developments in new music & technology. Over the course of the 13 June, there will be a series of performances, demonstrations, workshops, talks and debates on topics ranging from live coding to virtual reality to artificial intelligence. Here’s a run-down of the exciting – and mostly FREE – sessions on offer!

Book-ending the day will be a pair of DIY AI demos by Robert Laidlow, a PRiSM Researcher in AI-Assisted Composition in association with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Robert’s morning session will be followed by an opening provocation by the ever-insightful mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, who has recently released a new book entitled The Creativity Code. Then it’s an exciting demo by composer and Virtual Reality researcher Jonathan Packham, who will present some of the latest research in VR headset scoring, including new works scored using VR by Jonathan himself, Bofan Ma and Tywi Roberts.

Visions for the future of music creation.

For the coders out there, a particularly exciting session is scheduled for later on in the afternoon. In a workshop/talk/performance entitled Musical Robots, data musician and live coder Shelly Knotts will give his unique insight into the latest developments in live coding, including a new work by Tywi Roberts for live coding, synth, Sonic Pi and piano. Then it’s the pioneering Explore Ensemble’s turn to impress, with a showcase of Patricia Alessandrini’s robotic piano machine, performing Alessandrini’s own Tracer la lune d’un doigt and a new work by Zakiya Leeming.

Towards the end of the day, we’ll hear from applied Futurist Tom Cheesewright as he shares his visions for the future of music creation alongside Jonathan Packham, Shelly Knotts, and CEO of national new music charity Sound and Music, Susannah Eastburn. All before Marcus du Sautoy joins composers Emily Howard, Nicholas Moroz and Robert Laidlow in a discussion about the latest developments in AI and new music, featuring performances of new works incorporating AI technology as well as an interactive Turing test!

This looks like it’s going to be a fascinating event, and with the exception of that last performance which is priced at £5, it’s totally free!