"Freewheeling…occasionally completely bananas…enormous fun" (The Times). That’s Tectonics Festival!
Saturday night on BBC Radio 3's New Music Show.
@katemolleson presents the first of two Tectonics specials, curated by Ilan Volkov with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
First up...
Christopher Fox's 'Minding the Hive' with @lore.amenabar (BBC commission/World Premiere)
Angélica Castelló's 'Star Washers' (UK Premiere)
Laura Bowler's 'Things Are Against Us' with @gbsrduo (UK Premiere)
Hannah Kendall's ...I may turn to salt
Plus improv from pianist Craig Taborn and tubist Danielle Price
Day 1 ≠ Day 2 🎙️🎵 More discoveries ahead today at City Halls...
Highlights coming soon to @bbcradio3 New Music Show on 9 & 16 May, presented by @katemolleson
#tectonicsglasgow
💥A look back on Day 1! Expect more bold, boundary‑breaking moments today...
Kate Molleson presents highlights from Day 1 on BBC Radio 3's New Music Show on 9 May.
Photos:
1. Frédéric Le Junter, experimental instrument builder
2. Angélica Castelló, sound artist
3. Craig Taborn, piano
4. Danielle Price, tuba
5. BBC SSO Strings & Hannah Kendall, composer
6. Laura Bowler & GBSR Duo with BBC SSO
7. Lore Amenabar Larrañaga with BBC SSO (Christopher Fox)
8. Angélica Castelló with BBC SSO
9. Callie Rose Petal (ⁿᵒᵗBorges), multidisciplinary conceptual artist
10. Ilan Volkov
11. George Barton, GBSR Duo
Credit: Alex Woodward / BBC
IMPORTANT INFO ‼️ Tectonics Glasgow kicks off this Saturday.
Here’s some info ahead of the weekend…
View the line-up via link in bio and plan your must-see acts in advance!
Tectonics Glasgow returns this weekend! Across the festival's two evening concerts, @bbcsso presents 3 world premieres/BBC commissions and 3 UK premieres, conducted by Ilan Volkov.
2&3 May 2026
Glasgow City Halls & Old Fruitmarket
🚨 Final Call
It’s the last day to book your discounted Festival Weekend Pass and unlock unlimited access to every event across 2 & 3 May.
Single Day Passes will be available too 🎟️
Discover the full line-up via the link in bio.
#Tectonics2026
⏳ Grab your all-access, discounted Festival Pass now for two days of boundary-breaking music.
The best value way to experience all events at Tectonics Glasgow across 2 & 3 May.
Available until Friday 24 April (link in bio)
The BBC SSO Strings perform “…I may turn to salt” by Hannah Kendall in the Old Fruitmarket, conducted by Ilan Volkov.
As Kendall explains: “Part of the string ensemble has their instruments altered by dreadlock cuffs, which are malleable metallic Afro hair accessories. The strings are bound together by the cuffs making pitch production unpredictable, as well as creating a harsh, yet often brittle and fragile sound quality... Perhaps I see something of myself in Lot's wife: her ‘disobedience’ lies in looking back; mine in ‘disobeying,’ or at least rubbing up against, the norms of how Western classical instruments are expected to be played and sound.”
17:30, Saturday 2 May - BBC SSO Strings and Ilan Volkov
A limited number of discounted weekend passes are now on sale (link in bio).
Angélica Castelló is a Mexican–Austrian composer, recorder player, improviser, sound artist and magnetophonic tape weaver. Her music evokes both the beauty and challenge of being alive through electroacoustic spells that summon memory, death, solace, trauma, resilience, fragility, and the oneiric realm of the subconscious. Espacio ∞ is an ongoing composition without a final form.
Castelló seeks to create textures similar to swarms, clouds of noise and wind, abysses of sine waves and water sounds, blending the sounds of a live instrument with electronic sounds and, in the electronic mix, those of analogue machines, broken radios, old tapes, and purely crystalline field recordings. The music remains perpetually in motion, continuously transforming and resisting any sense of final closure.
A limited number of discounted Weekend Passes are now on sale (link in bio).
In the process of composing, Naomi Pinnock tapes a collection of images, quotes and words to the wall behind her desk, describing them as “guideposts… stones to touch for the sometimes blind journey of making.”
The UK Premiere's title is a quote by Amy Sillman, whose paintings unfold in layers with possibly dozens of other potential paintings beneath the surface—paths not taken, layers covered, a visceral searching for emergent shapes.
A limited number of discounted Weekend Passes are now on sale (link in bio).
British composer Hannah Kendall’s music is “searingly impactful” (The New Statesman), bridging musical cultures while both honouring and challenging contemporary traditions. At Tectonics Glasgow, Ilan Volkov conducts the BBC SSO Strings in a performance of "...I may turn to salt".
The work's title is inspired by Lemn Sissay’s poem Godsell, reflecting on the biblical figure of Lot’s wife. As Kendall explains: “Part of the string ensemble has their instruments altered by dreadlock cuffs, which are malleable metallic Afro hair accessories. The strings are bound together by the cuffs making pitch production unpredictable, as well as creating a harsh, yet often brittle and fragile sound quality... Perhaps I see something of myself in Lot's wife: her ‘disobedience’ lies in looking back; mine in ‘disobeying,’ or at least rubbing up against, the norms of how Western classical instruments are expected to be played and sound.”
A limited number of discounted Weekend Passes are now on sale (link in bio).
