Whether drawing influence from alternative media or wrestling with it, Zubin Kanga has reinterpreted the role of the pianist. Interested in choreography, alternative scoring and audio-visual collaboration, he is constantly situating his instrument at new interdisciplinary intersections. His performances have featured live-generated visuals, stop-motion animation and video-game controllers, amongst other technologies. Kanga integrates these devices into his concerts, using versatile performance tactics to give media new character.
Kanga’s performances at hcmf// have found him at the centre of electronic interventions. At hcmf// 2016, he used 3D sensors and artificial intelligence systems to perform a series of works where musicians collaborate with machines. He returned to the festival in 2018 for another concert of multimedia disruptions, with video components (in works by Nicole Lizée, Christopher Fox and Claudia Molitor) and magnetic resonators (by Scott McLaughlin) integrated with his piano playing. The concert included a performance of Alexander Schubert’s WIKI-PIANO.NET – a piece with an editable online score that anyone can access – in which Kanga interprets a huge variety of ever-changing notation, text, and audio-visual content. Kanga has gone on to tour the piece to 21 venues, while also continuing to commission and collaborate with the world’s most exciting modern composers.