The London Symphony Orchestra has announced three performances taking place at LSO St Luke’s and the Barbican, bringing together artists whose work moves fluidly between orchestral music, jazz, theatre, spoken word and visual storytelling. While distinct in form, the performances reflect the Orchestra’s commitment to long-term creative partnerships and original new work.
The programme opened with Tangram x SANSARA: Chronicle 时•录at LSO St Luke’s on 30 and 31 August. Following its acclaimed premiere at Snape Maltings in June, the immersive work of choral theatre, created by multidisciplinary artist collective Tangram (pictured above) in collaboration with acclaimed vocal ensemble SANSARA, is inspired by the poetry of six remarkable women spanning more than a thousand years of Chinese history.
Blending newly commissioned music with movement, visual design and text, the production reflects Tangram’s distinctive cross-cultural approach to storytelling and marks a major project within the collective’s tenure as LSO St Luke’s Associate Artists.
On 16 September, composer, singer, songwriter and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson (pictured below) presents New Roots First Light, launching her own Associate Artist series at LSO St Luke’s. Inspired by her forthcoming album New Roots, the performance brings together live music, spoken word, dance and conversation in an evening exploring identity, ancestry, healing and renewal.
Joining Witter-Johnson will be poet Inua Ellams, dancers Anya and Remi Ferdinand, presenter Ashley Joseph and members of her band Chris Morris and Joshua Domfeh. The performance forms part of Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s long-standing creative relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra, which spans more than fifteen years and includes commissions including FAIYA! and the collaborative album Ocean Floor with the LSO Percussion Ensemble.
The programme culminates at the Barbican on 19 November, when acclaimed saxophonist, composer and rapper Soweto Kinch (pictured below) reunites to perform with the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. For the first time, Trilogy brings together the three large-scale works Kinch has created with the Orchestra since 2019: The Black Peril, White Juju and Soundtrack to the Apocalypse.
Inspired by events ranging from the race riots of 1919 to the culture wars and the emergence of an increasingly polarised world, the works blend jazz, orchestral music, hip hop and spoken word in one of the Orchestra’s most ambitious ongoing creative collaborations.
