Premiered at Semperoper Dresden, Chasing Waterfalls combines human singers with an AI-generated operatic voice. We co-composed the score and developed the spatial sound and sonic identity of the AI character.
Chasing Waterfalls is a co-production of the artist collective phase7 performing.arts Berlin with Semperoper Dresden and the Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival. Projectpartner is the Telekom MMS. Kindly supported by Sächsische Semperoper Stiftung
OUR ROLE Co-Composition , Spatial Sound, Sound Design, AI voice creation // CONDUCTOR Angus Lee // IDEA & CONCEPT Sven Sören Beyer, Johann Casimir Eule, Christiane Neudecker // LIBRETTO Christiane Neudecker // DIRECTION & STAGING Sven Sören Beyer // CO-COMPOSITION Angus Lee // VISUALS Studio Eigengrau, Frieder Weiss and Ployz // LIGHT DESIGN Henning Schletter // SET DESIGN Pedro Richter Atelier Berlin // DRAMATURGY Johann Casimir Eule // AI VOICE technical support from T-Systems MMS // YEAR 2022
Chasing Waterfalls is an electro-acoustic opera created by phase7 performing.arts Berlin in co-production with Semperoper Dresden and the Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival. The work premiered at Semperoper Dresden in 2022 and was later presented in Hong Kong.
The opera brings together six human singers and an AI-generated operatic voice. Across the performance, the piece reflects on the relationship between human and machine creativity through staged vocal encounters between performers and algorithmically generated singing.
A central moment of the opera takes place in the fifth scene, dedicated entirely to the AI character. Here, the synthesized voice performs independently and reflects on its own existence within the operatic structure. Spatial sound and electro-acoustic composition shape how the digital voice appears within the live performance environment.
We co-composed the score with Angus Lee and developed the spatial sound, sound design, and AI voice for the production. Our work focused on the sonic presence and staging of the artificial voice within the opera.
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