LightSounds has announced Promenade: Sound in Colour and Ash, a full day of audiovisual art and music featuring the premiere of Black Ash at LSO St Luke's on Saturday, 23 January 2027.
Curated by pianist Cheslav Singh and composer Hangrui Zhang, the event presents a series of immersive cross-disciplinary collaborations inside Jerwood Hall. Black Ash is an hour-long experimental theatre work created by Hangrui Zhang and visual artist Yuchen Li (Lychen). Written for string quartet, percussion, and electronics, the music-led piece features no singers and takes inspiration from alchemical processes, exploring self-transformation across five distinct chapters.
Performed live by the Rothko Collective beneath expansive visual projections, the production builds shifting landscapes of black wastelands, dark-gold palaces, burning seas, and a black sun. Following previews at Riverside Studios and Hoxton Hall’s As We Lay Dying festival, Black Ash receives its premiere as the evening centerpiece.
"Black Ash started from a question about how a self is made, and it takes its method from alchemy, where a substance has to be broken down before anything new can come from it," the creators explained.
The daytime programme opens at 2:30 PM with a free exhibition featuring live canvas painting by Gina Southgate, Walt Shaw, and Sue Bridge alongside live musicians. At 4:30 PM, visitors can experience The Portal, an immersive installation created by Cheslav Singh and artist Zhiyan Cai. The evening concert begins at 7:00 PM, featuring live improvisations by the three painters accompanied by saxophonist Sam Andreae, electronic artist Ciaran Mackle, and percussionist Regan Bowering, prior to Black Ash after the interval.
