Dr Zubin Kanga returns to the Southbank Centre for this double-bill of solo concerts on 17 October 2026: Ghost in the Machine and After Dark. The concerts feature new works created out of his Cyborg Soloists research project exploring the cutting edge of music technologies.
Dr Zubin Kanga
Ghost in the Machine features the world premiere of Blombos Playground for keyboard and two AI keyboardists by legendary composer George Lewis, one of the pioneers of human-computer interaction in music. This is a major milestone in Lewis's 45-year history working with autonomous AI improvisers in live performance. Presented in multi-speaker surround sound, it combines the live keyboardist with Lewis’s iconic Voyager system, a rule-based improvisation program with its own personality, and Somax, created at IRCAM and trained on Kanga’s improvisations to be a musical doppelgänger. The concert also features new works by Alex Paxton and Ben Nobuto (featuring a duet with an animated avatar), as well as Nwando Ebizie's work combining real and AI voices.
After Dark: Club Cyborg features a new 30-minute work by Alex Groves, PARTITA, combining Baroque dance forms with the sounds of modern nightclubs, using the piano, multiple keyboards, a ROLI Seaboard and electronics. Presented with live lighting, the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer will be turned into a nightclub.
What is Cyborg Soloists?
Cyborg Soloists is a 4-year UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship based at Royal Holloway, University of London that explores interdisciplinary interactions between music, the other arts, and new digital technologies.
Within this research hub, dozens of composers and performers are working together with technology researchers and 12 industry partners to develop artistic and technological innovations including new types of interaction between musicians and live computer-generated video, AI interactive co-performers, virtual reality performances, new digital instruments, the interactive use of mobile phones in performance, and expanding the bodies of musicians with robotics, motion-sensors and brain-scanning biosensors. Research outputs will include new works that are toured internationally to major festivals and leading venues, journal articles, conference papers, an edited book, performance and documentary films, software patches, exhibitions, and a festival and conference at Royal Holloway. Read more.
Join us
For more information and to book your tickets now, please visit this website: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/zubin-kanga-ghost-in-the-machine-after-dark/ One ticket allows you entry to both concerts.
