It’s really not that difficult to get people’s attention these days—all you have to do is record an album with Brian Eno. Berliner-by-choice Tom Rogerson met the legend at a port-a-potty outside after a gig. They got along well and discovered they had several things in common, including a childhood in Suffolk, England and a love of avant-garde, minimalist sonic relaxants. Before they knew it, they were teaming up for the album Finding Shore. Here’s where it gets interesting: for the recording, Rogerson improvises on the piano while the Eno i.e. Captain Ambient operates the so-called Moog Piano Bar, an apparatus that transforms piano sounds into MIDI signals using infrared beams. Rogerson, whose legs already dangled from his sister’s piano bench at the age of four and who later, at 17, couldn’t decide between studying with Harrison Birtwistle (Google!) and working as a hotel pianist, has found, via this collaboration, a novel point of reference for his improvisations. We’ll leave it to fate whether Tom brings his buddy Brian to his performance at the Torstraßen Festival this year (…and we’ll emotionally prepare for the likelihood that he won’t!). What’s certain, though, is that we’re in store for a very special, liberating, and mesmerizing concert that wanders the territories between organic and electronic sounds. 

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