Zubin Kanga (piano) – Cyborg Soloists: The Body Electric at RNCM

Johnny James, Managing Editor
Raphaael Neal

Zubin Kanga (piano) - Cyborg Soloists: The Body Electric at Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester 18 March 2022 Tickets from £10.00 — Book now

Part of Submerge Festival, Cyborg Soloists: The Body Electric sees pianist Zubin Kanga perform a future-leaning programme of ‘cyborg’ works wherein his instrument meets new digital technologies.

Submerge Festival is a queer-led, Manchester-based producing organisation and international festival of contemporary performance, music, and creative technology. It’s got some pretty wild events programmed this year, one of the very wildest being this concert with Zubin Kanga who, over the last decade, has established a 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.

Tonight, he performs six flamboyant cyborg works in a programme featuring queer composers and themes. Each work combines the piano with a different kind of technology, including sensors, synthesizers, strobe lights, electronics, video and cutting-edge digital instruments. Five out of the six works in the programme are also world premieres.

First is Do you share coming out stories still? by Robert Reid Allan, who uses a TouchKeys keyboard to transform an interview with a queer mentor about generational changes in queer life and culture. Next is Heart of Glass (2019) by Alwynne Pritchard, who takes inspiration from Werner Herzog’s experimentations with hypnosis in the 1976 film Heart of Glass. Also inspired by drag and Japanese butoh dance, the work will find Kanga appearing to be hypnotised, performing around the piano, and in multiple personas on screen.

In their piece Escape TERF Island, Manchester-based artist CHAINES (Cee Haines) uses ROLI keyboards to create fluidly morphing electronics, while Liverpool artist Lola da la Mata’s A meditation on unnatural corporeality in three tableaux is more of a movement-based piece. A collaboration with performance-art duo Antonio Branco x Riccardo T, it features sensuous choreography that explores responses to touch with biosensors from Movesense, accompanied by the sound of a voice that is shaped by the dancers’ heartbeats.

Onto one of Kanga’s own works: Hypnagogia uses classic analogue synthesizers to create cascading walls of sound and spiralling rhythms that are then melted and morphed using MiMU sensor gloves. And to close, hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiicceess by Luke Nickel 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.

Well, there you have it – probably the wildest programme we’ve ever written about at the RNCM. We can’t wait.

Part of the RNCM Spring Season.

 This performance contains partial nudity and flashing lights. 

Zubin Kanga (piano) - Cyborg Soloists: The Body Electric at Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester 18 March 2022

Book Now
Music/manchester/city-centre-manchester/
Explore@RNCM

Explore@RNCM sees the College throw open its doors to the local community for a fun-packed day of music events and activities for all ages.

from £0.00
Music/manchester/city-centre-manchester/
RNCM 50th Birthday Celebration at RNCM

As the RNCM enters its fifth decade the College celebrates its past, present and future with a spectacular 50th anniversary event.

from £10.00
Until
MusicManchester
RNCM Summer Season 2023

Read our highlights from the RNCM Summer Season, from 50th anniversary celebrations to partnership events with MIF23 and Opera North.

What's on: Music

Until
ActivityManchester
DJ Gym at Hatch

Learn some DJ and production skills with DJ Gym Manchester, based in the culturally infused surrounds of Hatch.

from £269
Until
MusicManchester
RNCM Summer Season 2023

Read our highlights from the RNCM Summer Season, from 50th anniversary celebrations to partnership events with MIF23 and Opera North.

MusicManchester
Roger Waters at AO Arena

Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters brings his This Is Not A Drill tour to Manchester’s AO Arena, performing both solo and Pink Floyd material.

from £98.50
MusicManchester
Darkside at New Century

Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington AKA Darkside bring their dreamy mélange of psychedelia, art rock and electronica to New Century.

from £31.42

Culture Guides

Music

We go all in on festivals, with a round-up of everything from city-spanning giants to grassroots gems you may not know about.

Exhibitions

There's no rest for the art lover - this month brings outdoor sculpture, musings on water, political drawings and Liverpool Biennial 2023!

Classical Music

Summer's classical music calendar is filling up nicely! Read our top picks of concerts happening in Manchester and the North.

Winnie the Pooh at Manchester Opera House
Families

The sun has finally got his hat on! Enjoy our top picks of family-friendly events and activities, both indoors and outdoors.

Gerry Potter (credit Lee Baxter)
Literature

Books are big this summer, with festival readings, poetry slams, creative writing activities and famous faces all putting in an appearance.

Food and Drink

All signs point toward June being a scorcher of a month, so let’s take a look at all things summery food and drink.

Tours and Activities

From literary activities to brilliant independent shops, keep your minds and homes filled with the good stuff this month.

Theatre in Manchester
Theatre

Check out our updated guide for lively theatre festivals, rip-roaring rooftop circus and dreamy outdoor shows.