Sounds of Now: Saxophone and Electronics

David Zucchi brings Sounds of Now: Saxophone and Electronics to the Playhouse on Saturday 7 November, 8pm. It's part of a series at the Playhouse that pairs acoustic instruments with electronic processing, and this one puts the saxophone at the centre. Zucchi is a London-based Canadian saxophonist whose playing has been described as 'urgently visceral', and he's programmed the evening's works himself.

The first half looks back at two very different pieces. There's James Tenney's Saxony (1978), a groundbreaking work that builds a shimmering wall of sound from tape delay and saxophones of every size. Alongside it is Benjamin Tassie's O Suns - O Grass of Graves, which explores the fragile sound world of the saxophone's delicately unstable multiphonics — those split tones where the instrument seems to be playing more than one note at once.

The second half is devoted to Zucchi's recent collaborations with composer and creative technologist Robert Laidlow. Content translates the internet's overwhelming abundance of memes, infinite-scroll feeds and push notifications into a raucous concert work. Interfaces Improvisation is performed on Laidlow's tactile new electronic instrument, the 'stacco', which uses live AI to melt timbres together and control live-processed sound. Laidlow will be on stage with Zucchi for these, handling the electronics live.

It's a full evening: the running time is around an hour and 45 minutes, including an interval. The Playhouse is in the city centre, and the concert starts at 8pm on Saturday 7 November.