Machine learning has been making headlines with its sometimes alarming progress in skills previously thought to be the preserve of the human. Now these artificial things are “composing” music. Our event, part concert part talk, aims to demystify machine learning for music. We will describe how we are using state-of-the-art machine learning methods to teach a computer specific musical styles. We will take the audience behind the scenes of such systems, and show how we are using it to enhance human creativity in both music performance and composition. Human musicians will play several works composed by and with such systems. The audience will see how these tools can be used to augment human creativity and not replace it.

Programme includes:

• Richard Salmon plays artificial Bach chorales on the St. Dunstan organ
• Daren Banarsë and musicians play computer-generated tunes in the Irish style
• Luca Turchet interprets computer-generated tunes on his new “Smart Mandolin”
• Ensemble x.y plays “Two short pieces and an interlude”, a composition co-created by Bob L. Sturm and computer; and “Bastard Tunes”, a composition co-created by Oded Ben-Tal and computer
• Jennifer Walshe performs a new work interpreting computer-generated text