Robert Henke, the electronic music pioneer behind Monolake and co-creator of Ableton Live, premieres FIRST LIGHT, a surround sound laser performance commissioned by the Barbican.
Robert Henke, the electronic music pioneer who co-created the software Ableton Live, premieres FIRST LIGHT at the Barbican Centre on Saturday 7 November 2026.
Born in Munich in 1969, Henke lives in Berlin and comes from an engineering background. He has released electronic music as Monolake since 1995, moving between ambient, club and electronic textures.
He built Ableton Live with Gerhard Behles, and it changed how electronic music is made and played on stage. He also lectures at the Berlin University of the Arts and at Stanford.
FIRST LIGHT is a new audiovisual work, commissioned and produced by the Barbican for the Hall. Sound and laser graphics share the stage, driven by software Henke wrote for the piece.
The title comes from astronomy, where first light is the moment a new telescope first looks at the sky. Henke dedicates the work to the women astronomers, engineers and mathematicians whose work often went unrecognised.
His installations and concerts have been shown at Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou. This performance uses lasers, haze and strobe.