Imogen Heap Curates New Tech Festival

For those of you not hammering Red Stripe at Notting Hill Carnival, the August Bank Holiday has other delights in store – namely the Reverb Festival 2014, curated by proud tech junkie Imogen Heap. Focusing on musicians who incoroprate cutting edge technology, Reverb will feature performances from Plaid, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Heap and more, alongside all manner of talks, installations and workshops, covering everything from new interactive music technology to Atmos's Arboreal Lighting Tree. Imogen Heap herself is no stranger to esoteric technology, having caused quite a stir with her recent invention of sound manipulating gloves that allow for a curious combination of interprative dance and electronica – check 'em out in action-

Writing on the Roundhouse website, Heap has detailed her approach to curating the festival, treating it as a kind of avant garde relay race;   

"My journey began with a visit to a great friend, a wonderful composer and creative technologist – the amazing Nick Ryan, whose piece Synaesthesia will be performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra. Nick has been a massive inspiration to me, so I asked him to name one composer or musician who had really inspired him."

"Nick picked the world-famous Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto. I travelled to see Pekka at his home and discovered that, although being more well-known for playing concertos on stage with a world-class orchestra, he’s also a great fiddle player and improviser. I’ve persuaded Pekka to join us for Friday night’s ‘One-Man Band’ evening, where he’ll perform a world-premiere of music he has written for violin and electronics."

"I asked Pekka when I was with him to name someone who had inspired him. He sent me to the incredible Norwegian composer and vocal improviser Maja S. K. Ratkje. Maja will also join the One Man Band."

"Maja then named the composer Simon Steen-Andersen whose extraordinary work Black Box Music performed by the Arhus Sinfonietta kicks off Reverb. I was fortunate enough to see Black Box Music performed by Arhus in Denmark with Simon and it blew me away – I knew we had to have it at Reverb!"

"Finally, Simon named radical composer Alexander Schubert as his inspiration and Alex will be performing his piece Lucky Dip with the Decoder Ensemble at a late-night Reverb performance".

"Lastly, Reverb is your only opportunity this year to see me perform my new album as I premiere it at the festival. I’ll also perform some songs you will know all too well and I look forward to finally performing my new music for you."

Tickets and more info are available on the Roundhouse website