TECHNO-UTOPIA is a concerto for soloist performing on piano, synthesizers and newly-developed adaptive technology instruments. It was commissioned by the Radio Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) and BBC Radio 3. The RSB will give the world premiere in October 2026 at the Haus der Rundfunk, conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni with soloist Zubin Kanga. The BBC Philharmonic recorded it for BBC Radio 3 in July 2025.

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Instrumentation:
soloist (piano; synthesizers; adaptive instruments), large symphony orchestra, electronics

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Programme Note

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TECHNO-UTOPIA explores human music-making in the age of algorithms and how making and listening to music constructs what it means to be human. It stands against modern techno-utopianism, which reduces culture and music to merely data, and at the same time offers alternative - positive - futures for how new technology might unlock new forms of artistic expression (at least, for me). It is also a highly personal piece, particularly the third movement which is comprised of a patchwork of hundreds of musical quotes, samples and memories from my own life – a dataset a computer could never understand, no matter how powerful it is.​​

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In the first movement, "In My Image," the soloist wields sonic "commands" that progressively transform the orchestra's five distinct musical personalities into uniform algorithmic patterns. Here, I was thinking about the difficulty of remaining individual in the face of algorithms that dictate many aspects of modern life, and the tendency of algorithms to erase anything they don't understand, homogenising human experience into something "learnable".

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The second movement features "stacco," a newly-developed adaptive instrument which responds directly to the orchestra on stage. The stacco captures the last moments of the first movement, and the soloist uses it to fragment, destroy and reconstitute orchestral sounds. This section is both human and non-human; this highly non-human instrument is controlled, physically and expressively, by the soloist manipulating it with their hands.

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"Everything I Have Ever Heard Is Just Data," the final movement, challenges the notion that AI can truly understand music. The music is collaged from approximately 200 personal memories - pieces of music, field recordings, fragments of conversation. I wanted to write something celebrating the fact that our connection with sound and music extends far beyond data. The orchestra performs alongside samples from its own past recordings, blending my own memories with those of the musicians, ensemble and audience. 

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In addition to piano and synthesizers, the soloist also performs on the newly-invented instrument "Stacco". This instrument, controlled by manipulating magnets, responds directly to the orchestra on stage, creating new timbres and approaches to sound through adaptive sonic technology. I developed this technology in a residency at the Intelligent Instruments Lab in Iceland.