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 piano solo and live electronics

*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.

Want to get involved? 

Our wonderful supporters mean we can commission more pieces like Bethan, Anne and Lawrence's. We say thank you by naming them in the score, inviting them to rehearsals, and the world première, where they can meet the composer.

For more info visit www.bcmg.org.uk/sound-investment. You can support a piece as a one-off through Sound Investment or give monthly through Sound Investment Monthly.

What else is coming up?