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augmentedinstrumentslab

@augmentedinstrumentslab

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led by Prof Andrew McPherson
📍Dyson School of Design Engineering at @imperialcollege && Centre for Digital Music (C4DM) at @officialqmul
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TONIGHT on BBC Radio 3: The Piano of the Future In the final episode of Key Moments for The Essay, our beloved John Foxx @johnfoxxofficial (Ultravox) looks to where the piano goes next. He meets three people who are taking the instrument apart and reinventing it: Sarah Nicolls @sarahpianolife, who has turned the upright piano on its head Ben Eyes @ben.eyes, whose robotic Victorian piano plays itself using machine learning Prof. Andrew McPherson of the Augmented Instruments Lab at Imperial College London, creator of the Magnetic Resonator Piano. It uses electromagnets to make the strings sing without hammers, giving the long sustain John has been chasing all his life. 21:45 tonight on BBC Radio 3 @bbcradio3 then on BBC Sounds. #MagneticResonatorPiano #JohnFoxx #Ultravox #BBCRadio3 #TheEssay AugmentedInstruments NewInstruments Piano MusicTechnology
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🔊 Pink Loudspeaker Issue 153 is out now! @soundartsuk's weekly newsletter and listings of UK + Irish sound art: 12–18 October 2026 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 In Issue 153 we share the details on 100+ sonic artworks, exhibitions and events taking place across UK and Ireland this week. Ten are featured here, full listings and editorial features can be found in our newsletter: 🔗 pinkloudspeaker.substack.com [1] Electronics at Eight: Music for Magnetic Resonator Piano 📍 Milton Court, London 🗓️ 13 October 2026 @augmentedinstrumentslab @xeniapestova @guildhallschool 📷 Sam Walton [2] Tarek Atoui – Hold 📍 Tate Modern, London 🗓️ 13 October 2026 – 11 April 2027 @studiotarekatoui @tate 📷 Tate (Yili Liu) [3] Ella Fleck – training material • Frieze London 📍 The Regent’s Park, London 🗓️ 14–18 October 2026 @fleels @ehrlichsteinberg @friezeofficial 📷 Ehrlich Steinberg [4] On The Record – Moments of Grace • Bloomsbury Festival 📍 Holy Cross Church (Cromer Street), London 🗓️ 02–31 October 2026 @on_the_record_stories @listentosteve @nicolerobson @will_laslett @bloomsburyfestival 📷 Annemarie Lopez [5] Javier Durango – Stream 003 LEA • SPOILED PROPAGANDA: grafting bio-futurism 📍 Hypha HQ (Euston Tower), London 🗓️ 08 October – 07 November 2026 @jvrdurango @sol.lab.co @hyphastudios @phyein.collective 📷 Levin Chin [6] Abdollah Nafisi – I Can’t Meditate 📍 Staffordshire St, London 🗓️ 15 October – 01 November 2026 @abdollah.nafisi @staffordshirest 📷 Abdollah Nafisi [7] Resonance Plane 📍 hARTslane Gallery, London 🗓️ 14–25 October 2026 @compresscompress.jpeg @lewispathak @praxed @ted.brunning @h.artslane 📷 JP Guerrier [8] SoundBleed 📍 Gallery II, Bradford 🗓️ 16 October 2026 @sophie_cero @bfdsoundwomen @theatreinthemill 📷 Sophie Cero [9] Zeros and Ones: Beam Splitter / Jenn Kirby • PEARL 📍 Metal, Liverpool 🗓️ 18 October 2026 @jennkirbym @beamsplitterduo @metalliverpool @pearl_experimental_performance 📷 Daryl Feehely [10] Fist Inside the Velvet Glove • Wanderers’ Library 📍 Morgan Arcade, Cardiff 🗓️ 15–17 October 2026 @_teddyhunter @tactilebosch @cardiffmusiccity 📷 Teddy Hunter #soundart
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A piano that sustains, swells and bends. Hear the Magnetic Resonator Piano live in London on 13 October, with @xeniapestova performing her own works alongside premieres by Guildhall students and staff, plus music by @eileenmcloughlinmusic @teacake_94 @ollie.p.hawker @forasnafuaime. Developed by Bela co-founder Andrew McPherson and now produced by Bela, the MRP uses electromagnets to set piano strings vibrating, creating shimmering sustained tones, harmonics and pitch bends. The sound comes from the piano’s strings themselves. Electronics at Eight: Music for Magnetic Resonator Piano 13 October · 8pm Milton Court Concert Hall, London @guildhallschool Free entry, no tickets required. In these videos, Xenia Pestova Bennett performs: • Waxing Gibbous by Eileen McLoughlin (@eileenmcloughlinmusic) • it’s not something I ever thought would be the case by Ollie Hawker (@ollie.p.hawker) #MagneticResonatorPiano #Bela #AugmentedInstruments #ExperimentalMusic
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🎹 Happy International Music Day! To celebrate, we are sharing this introduction to the Magnetic Resonator Piano (MRP) – a hybrid acoustic-electronic instrument created by Professor Andrew McPherson, founder and director of the @augmentedinstrumentslab at the Dyson School of Design Engineering. The MRP uses electromagnets to vibrate the strings of a grand piano, extending its musical vocabulary to include infinite sustain, crescendos, pitch bends, harmonics and entirely new timbres – all produced acoustically, without speakers. Is it possible to reinvent one of the world's most iconic instruments? Watch our video to find out. 🎶 @imperialcollege @imperialcollegeengineering #InternationalMusicDay #MusicTechnology #NewMusicalInstruments
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Wires! Electronics at Eight will be sizzling, shimmering and crackling with the #magneticresonatorpiano at @barbicancentre @guildhallschool on the 13th of Oct featuring @xeniapestova playing her own pieces alongside premieres by GSMD students and staff, plus music by @eileenmcloughlinmusic @teacake_94 @ollie.p.hawker @forasnafuaime @augmentedinstrumentslab @lwolstanholme Photos by @frankowski for @prsfoundation New Music Biennial (hello, @hardrainse) @cmcireland
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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - APPLY BY 28th SEPTEMBER Artists will be working one-on-one with an instrument designer and with one another to learn a new kind of vocal feedback instrument called Ephemerides. When: October/November 2026, Imperial College London, South Kensington Who: Musicians and Sound Artists who identify as trans or disabled (focus on vocal disabilities) are invited to participate in a study involving a new kind of vocal feedback instrument. We're looking for participants who wish to experiment and (de/re)mystify the idea of voice through instrumental technique. What will you receive? £150 in vouchers on Bandcamp, an opportunity to help shape the development of a new instrument, work with other artists and researchers on voice, and contribute to design research surrounding trans and disabled perspectives. More info at instrumentslab.org, link to survey in @junebug.codes bio
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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - APPLY BY 28TH SEPTEMBER Artists will be working one-on-one with instrument designers and with one another to learn a new kind of vocal feedback instrument called Ephemerides. When: October/November 2026, Imperial College London, South Kensington Who: Musicians and Sound Artists who identify as trans or disabled (focus on vocal disabilities) are invited to participate in a study involving a new kind of vocal feedback instrument. We're looking for participants who wish to experiment and (de/re)mystify the idea of voice through instrumental technique. What will you receive? £150 in vouchers on Bandcamp, an opportunity to help shape the development of a new instrument, work with other artists and researchers on voice, and contribute to design research surrounding trans and disabled perspectives. More info at instrumentslab.org, or link in @junebug.codes bio.
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Bach + MRP! @xeniapestova plays J.S. Bach’s chorale “Werde munter, mein Gemüte” on the #magneticresonatorpiano from @augmentedinstrumentslab at @imperialcollege @imperialdyson. Video by @ovenglovelove New instruments and new technologies can absolutely work with old music - check out Xenia’s recording of @karlheinzessl “Gold,Berg.Werk” on @ergodos.ie for J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” with spatialised algorithmic electronic interludes. #bach #jsbach #baroquemusic #electronicmusic
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A few months ago @cohendjc and I were lucky enough to document Andrew McPherson’s truly mesmeric Magnetic Resonator Piano ‘MRP’ of the @augmentedinstrumentslab played by the exceptional @xeniapestova and seen here performing her own composition ‘Glowing Radioactive Elements - Actinium’ (2019) but among many others on the day, this was my personal favourite though. MRP Technician - @lwolstanholme Sound Recordist - @mattdavison99 Producer - @nicolerobson @ohkestrel_film Always special to document the instruments at the lab. Thanks as ever to the lovely @lia_mice for the original intro and videos we shot there. The magnetic resonator piano (MRP) is an augmented piano which uses electromagnets to elicit new sounds from the strings of a grand piano. The MRP extends the sonic vocabulary of the piano to include infinite sustain, crescendos from silence, harmonics, pitch bends and new timbres, all produced acoustically without the use of speakers. The MRP is an electronic instrument, but the experience of playing it closely resembles the acoustic piano it inherits from. An optical scanner on the piano keyboard measures the continuous position of every key, enabling subtle, delicate gestures that would not produce sound on an ordinary piano, even as all the techniques of traditional piano playing remain available. The kit can be installed in any grand piano.
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Two wheelchairs at Heathrow, #nime2026 here we come! Robin Dussurget aka Cicanoise arrives for our gig Thursday night at @richmixlondon . First pleasant bit of accessibility information: all new electric London black cabs have built in wheelchair ramps. Traveling in style!
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Are you a user of experimental music technology or a maker and designer of new musical instruments? Come and spend an afternoon at the Dyson School of Design Engineering! 🎵 The @augmentedinstrumentslab, led by Professor Andrew McPherson, invites you to join the NIME Open Day – a free, drop-in afternoon of informal demos, live performances and socialising with researchers, artists and industry practitioners working at the frontier of new musical instruments and music technology. 📆 27 June (Saturday) 🕟 12:00 – 5:00pm 📍 Dyson Building, Imperial College London Free and open to all. Spaces are limited so register in advance not to miss out. 🌱 Find out more and register via the link in our LinkTree. #NIME2026 #MusicTechnology #ExperimentalMusic
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I’m super looking forward to another outing of #embodieddialogues with @jennkirbym next week. Not sure of the timings as yet but it’ll be at Rich Mix, at #nime2026 on 24 June. Our first duo at @hundred_years_gallery a couple of weeks ago felt rather special (which is where the pic is from - thanks @psshidao36 )
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