Capstone Theatre Marks 60 Years of Moog Synthesiser

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Liverpool venue curates four-day Moog anniversary series

The Capstone Theatre ran a four-day programme from 21–24 November 2024, pairing concert performances with a foyer installation from the publishers of 1984 videogame Deus Ex Machina. Liverpool Hope University's venue framed the series around analogue modular's tactile resurgence: organisers noted that "artists [are] enthralled by the instruments' timbral richness and their tactile sensitivity and playability."

The billing combined Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, Lydia Kavina and The Twelve Hour Foundation alongside sessions exploring synthesis in modern media. A closing tribute marked Autobahn's 50th anniversary, anchoring Moog's 60th within canonical European synthesis narratives rather than product-driven retrospectives. (Original source)

Will Gregory Ensemble leads concerts and modular installations

The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble anchors the four-day programme alongside performances by Dave Bessell and the experimental duo Polypores, whose set explores voltage-controlled feedback architectures. Closing night pairs the ensemble's tribute to 50 years of Autobahn with a post-concert afterparty, positioning Kraftwerk's album as the conceptual bridge between Moog's original modular ethos and contemporary sequencer-driven composition. (Moog music: The most influential electronic instrument turns 60)

Lydia Kavina—grandniece of Leon Theremin and a recognised interpreter of voltage-controlled performance technique—brings theremin and Moog pairings to the opening weekend, demonstrating the continuity between gestural electronic controllers across six decades. (Moog at 60, from the ladder filter to the Labyrinth - MusicRadar) The Twelve Hour Foundation rounds out the billing with durational modular pieces that foreground patch reconfiguration as compositional method, reflecting the organisers' emphasis on playability and tactile immediacy as drivers of the current analogue resurgence.

Regional programming connects analogue revival to Kraftwerk legacy

The Capstone series frames Moog's anniversary through the lens of Autobahn, positioning the 1974 Kraftwerk album—built around Minimoog bass and modular textures—as a hinge between analogue's first wave and today's resurgence. (The Moog at 60: A Celebration [21st - 24th Nov 2024] (Bundle Ticket)) Organisers describe the closing tribute as "Autobahn and Far Beyond", framing Kraftwerk's motorik blueprint as a live-performance template that persists across decades of electronic music. The arc from Deus Ex Machina's interactive audio—installed in the theatre foyer—to panel discussions on synthesis in modern media positions the Moog not as museum artefact but as connective tissue linking 1960s voltage control, 1970s sequenced minimalism and current modular practice. By anchoring a regional programme to both Kraftwerk canon and contemporary exploratory work, the Capstone underscores how Liverpool's arts infrastructure is curating electronic-music history as an active continuum rather than retrospective exercise.

Sources

• Original source
• Moog music: The most influential electronic instrument turns 60 (2024-09-25)
• Moog at 60, from the ladder filter to the Labyrinth - MusicRadar (2025-02-15)
• The Moog at 60: A Celebration [21st - 24th Nov 2024] (Bundle Ticket) (2024-11-21)
• The Moog at 60: A Celebration (21st - 24th November 2024)
• Moog Synthesizer celebrates 60th anniversary with concert series (2024-10-15)

How we reported this

We reviewed the original coverage from MixmagTech and cross-checked key details against the sources above. If something is unclear or changes after publication, we’ll update this post.

About the author

Tom Rander — is a journalist and electronic music specialist who has spent years documenting the intersection of club culture and technical innovation. With a background rooted in both the booth and the press room, Tom founded Rander.io to provide a more rigorous, expertise-driven alternative to mainstream music blogs.