Soweto Kinch: Trilogy

A jazz evening with Soweto Kinch, the British saxophonist, rapper and composer, revisiting a trilogy of works written with the London Symphony Orchestra. The programme draws on three pieces, each built around a different theme.

Soweto Kinch is a British jazz saxophonist, rapper and composer, born in London in 1978, whose first album, Conversations With the Unseen, appeared in 2003. Kinch's style spans crossover jazz and jazz. This concert returns to a trilogy of works created with the London Symphony Orchestra since 2019, with music from The Black Peril, White Juju and Soundtrack to the Apocalypse.

Each work responds to a different set of events, from the race riots of 1919 and the contested culture wars of 2020 to the lockdown and a sense of an apocalyptic, post-truth era. Taking in the past, the present and the future, the pieces cross the boundaries of genre, using layered storytelling, lyricism and musicality to challenge familiar conventions. Kinch has described the commissions as a process of subverting established tropes while developing a personal compositional voice. The result mixes cerebral and visceral material that is also danceable, presented as multi-platform works.

The Barbican Centre, where the concert takes place, hosts concerts and shows in London.