Echoes of Hill and Horizon (2026)

A 16th Century Rave at the Southbank Centre!
“EPIC LIGHT SHOW”
“A SYNAESTHETIC FEAST”
****
The Guardian

As part of the Southbank Centre’s Mutitudes Festival 2026, the evening was an intriguing collaboration between the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Queen Elizabeth Hall’s  ‘Concrete Voids’ audio spatialisation system and Squidsoup.

The event played with time, using 16th Century melodies, reinterpreted by 20th century composers (Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Warlock) and performed in an environment prominently featuring 21st Century technology – both the spatialised sound amplification and augmentation system, and our own volumetric lighting.

Katherine ‘Waffy’ Spencer, artistic lead at the OAE, memorably called the event a ‘16th Century rave’.

The complexity and subtleties of these often dense and multi-layered classical pieces gradually revealed themselves as we worked to fuse the sounds and compositions with our digitally controlled 3D volumetric light system.

A very different challenge to previous work with Four Tet, improvising with dance DJs or our installation work, it’s been a revelatory exercise in seeing the visuals we create in a new setting.

Performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, 22 April 2026

Commissioned and produced by Southbank Centre and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

More info from Southbank Centre HERE

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment 
Evan Rogister conductor
Kati Debretzeni violin
Katherine Spencer creative director

Southbank Centre/Concrete Voids
Tony Birch

Squidsoup VJs
Rory Thomas-Lawton and Josh Sterckx

Repertoire
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Peter Warlock: Capriol Suite
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves
Elgar: Serenade for strings
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis

Photos: Pete Woodhead, Southbank Centre. Last three by Squidsoup