The Singularity. In Opera Form. With Robots.
Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, mit, Opera, Today's Chili
MIT’s Media Lab creates all sorts of neat stuff. Futuristic robot sort of stuff. Jetsons stuff. And now the program is combining the technology of the future with a cue from the past when they premiere their first opera, Death and the Powers.
The one-act opera, which was 10 years in the making, will make its premiere September 24-26 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Composer and Media Lab professor Tod Machover, who has created technology-infused instruments for Yo-Yo Ma and Prince, conceptualized Death and the Powers as a way for technology and music to compliment each other. The production features a human cast alongside an animated multi-media set design which includes nine life-sized singing “OperaBots.”
The story is straight Singularity mythology. (If you didn’t know, The Singularity is the hip new geek religion, if you’re reading GearLog, you’d probably be interested in joining our cult. It’s run by Google. Really.) Death is the tale of a plucky mad scientist who uploads his memories and personality into “The System.” The actor portraying the scientist disappears after the first scene and is thereafter represented by various robots, lights, and assorted fixtures that make-up the on-stage “System.” Off-stage, the singer’s performance is captured by software that monitor’s his volume and pitch, as well muscle tension and breathing patterns and reflect those attributes into on-stage mechanisms of The System. Machover doves this use of technology as “disembodied performance.” It’s like if T-Pain had an unlimited budget and a dedicated staff of research grads.
It sounds amazing. I can’t wait to check it out. It’s going to be the Avatar of the opera world. In the meantime, I hope Professor Machover will next use technology to improve upon ballet, which is awful. Just awful.
Some video of the production after the jump.
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