SOHO with the LPO is a dazzling portrait of
urban memory
Walking into Queen Elizabeth Hall for the premiere of SOHO, I had no idea I was about to be immersed in one of the most original and electrifying musical experiences I’ve had all year. Dr. Jorge Ramos’ new orchestral work, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the precise and sensitive baton of Juya Shin, felt less like a concert and more like being dropped inside someone’s dream of London. The city turned into a place layered with memory, distortion, and motion.
Part of the LPO’s Young Composers Programme, SOHO is as conceptually bold as it is sonically rich. Inspired by the iconic central London place, the piece doesn’t simply describe Soho—it becomes it. I felt that Dr. Ramos captured the essence of a place that never stops moving, where vintage glamour and contemporary chaos coexist. You could almost smell the steam rising from a late-night noodle bar, hear jazz bleeding out of a club basement, or feel the strange hush of an empty church tucked between neon lights.
The music itself is a wild yet coherent hybrid. There is digital DNA buried beneath its orchestral skin: AI-generated harmonies, fragments of urban field recordings, and ghost-like textures that blur the boundary between the acoustic and the imagined. William Wyld’s amplified voice floated in and out like a narrator caught in the static of a half-remembered radio play. It didn’t tell us where we were, but asked: What do you remember about this place and what do you wish you could forget?
What impressed me most was how Dr. Ramos shaped these abstract ideas into something emotionally resonant. It wasn’t just clever, it was also felt. There were moments of jittery tension, cinematic nostalgia, and even flashes of humour. The orchestra navigated this shifting terrain with confidence and colour, especially the Foyle Future First musicians, whose energy brought a raw edge to the more experimental passages.
As the final sounds faded I sat in silence, not quite ready to return to the real world. SOHO is a rare thing: a piece that challenges how we listen, while making us feel something immediate and human. I left thinking not just about music, but about memory, perception, and the strange beauty of cities.
The season may be ending, but for Dr. Jorge Ramos, this feels like the start of something exciting. I can’t wait to hear where he takes us next.