Elbphilharmonie Sessions: Zubin Kanga

What might the music of the future sound like? In his multimedia concert projects, Zubin Kanga explores this question from a wide range of angles – using sensor gloves, synthesizers, a shimmering EEG helmet, wired pianos and striking visual effects. For his »Elbphilharmonie Session« in the western tip of the Kaispeicher, the Australian-born musician arrives with an arsenal of cutting-edge tech, including intricately programmed sensor gloves that allow him to create fascinating sound effects and layers. One of the works he presents, »Hypnagogia (after Bach)«, evokes the drifting consciousness of a long-haul flight, where Bach’s harmonies and clear melodic language merge with the ambient hum of jet turbines.

The video artist Alexander Trattler, who has worked with Zubin Kanga in other contexts, provides special visual effects for this »Elbphilharmonie Session«. His visual language responds to the multi-layered sound textures of the composition with distortion effects.

The production took place on May 17, 2025.

What once belonged to the realm of science fiction, from »Star Trek« to »The Matrix«, is increasingly becoming part of our everyday reality. From smart prosthetics and driver-assist systems to AI-powered apps on our phones, the boundaries between humans and machines are growing more fluid and sophisticated. This shift is also reshaping the arts. In his various projects, Zubin Kanga explores how such emerging technologies can be harnessed creatively. His programme »Cyborg Pianist« explores a range of possibilities, making it a perfect fit for the 2025 Hamburg International Music Festival, which had »Future« as its central theme.

Born in Sydney in 1982 to engineer parents, Kanga studied music, philosophy and computer science in Australia before continuing his musical education in London. His research and teaching assignments have taken him to the University of Nice, IRCAM in Paris and Royal Holloway University in London. He performs at relevant new music festivals across Europe, works with a string of renowned composers and has premiered over 160 new works. His ambitious research initiative »Cyborg Soloists« earned him a prestigious UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship, through which he has commissioned around 60 compositions.

»Hypnagogia« describes the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep. A drifting mental space where thoughts, memories and hallucinations intermingle. Zubin Kanga experienced many such moments on long-haul flights between Europe and his native Australia. During one flight, the hum of the aircraft engines seemed to echo the final chorus »Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder« (»We sit down with tears«) from Bach’s »St. Matthew Passion« – an impression he captures in his fascinating work »Hypnagogia (after Bach)«. The evocative and timeless music features a »Korg Prologue« synthesizer, an electronically amplified piano and »MiMU« gloves, which use built-in, freely programmable sensors in the individual fingers and wrist to manipulate and transform the sound in different ways. 

(»Hypnagogia (after Bach)« was composed as part of »Cyborg Soloists«, supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and Royal Holloway, University of London.)