The neo-Tudor façade of the Divinity School on Trinity Street, an architectural salute to the facing entrance of St John's, was unveiled last month. After a multi-million pound refurbishment, the red-brick grandeur of the St John's Great Gate is now mirrored across the road by a fitting structure rather than the scaffolding which has remained in place for several years.

The building has had a chequered past since its construction in 1878. As recently as 2004, a plan to convert the building into a bar fell through after the Council refused to give planning permission. The subsequent revamp by St John's College, which owns the building, has created a 150-seat lecture theatre to be used for concerts.

On Wednesday, "Interface", the first of the St John's Music Society Recitals, will take place in this newly converted theatre. It is fitting that the recital explores the possibilities of this new space, and discusses the relationship between the modern and the past. New compositions, using state-of-the-art equipment installed during the refurbishment, will be played in the ornate Victorian interior.

Recitals Manager and performer Laurie Kent spoke to Varsity about the upcoming recital:

"As a niche interest, New Music thrives in Cambridge. There are many student composers around and St John's Music Society is attempting to create a platform for new works."

The first recital in the new venue presents new compositions from four student composers. It blurs the boundary between acoustic and electronic music, and between pre-recorded and live performance. The poster for the event advertises it as 'a presentation of student compositions for piano and live instruments with tape'. So, what does it mean for music to "Interface"? Half of the concert focuses on the solo piano, the other half on how the acoustic and the electronic can be "interfaced".

The recital explores the practicalities and philosophical implications of a combination of live performance and pre-recorded tracks. Laurie Kent's piece "To Be A Thing" mixes pre-recorded tracks with live percussion. He explains that:

"Pure electro-acoustic music takes the drama away from live performance. I wanted a dose of the theatrical in my piece. At any second it could all fall apart at the seams and I want the room to feel the fear".

"The electric and acoustic interface but never quite touch" claims Kent. This philosophical influence is also present in Gregor Forbes' piano piece "Three Events", which was inspired by his reading of Kant and explores the perception of objects in time and space.

"There are really exciting possibilities of working with such an amazing space. My hope is that people will be inspired by the venue and in the future we will have pieces composed specifically for the Divinity School Theatre which fully utilize its characteristics."

"Interface" will take place on 14 November at 9:15 pm.