Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith played new music and earlier work with the London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ames, in two sets.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, the American synthesist known for her album Ears, played with the London Contemporary Orchestra at the Barbican Centre on Wednesday 27 May 2026. Robert Ames conducted the orchestra in the Barbican Hall.
Smith grew up on Orcas Island in Washington state and studied composition and sound engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Back on the island, a neighbour who shared her love of Terry Riley lent her a Buchla 100 synthesiser.
She set aside her folk duo, Ever Isles, to work with it. Her first album, Euclid, came out in 2015, and she made Sunergy with Suzanne Ciani. The Kid followed in 2017.
The concert set new material beside earlier work across two sets. It reflected the more rhythmic direction her writing had taken in recent years.
Her collaborators include Patti Smith, Four Tet and Danny Elfman. She is based in Los Angeles, and in 2026 she co-founded the label Someone Special.