Composers collaborate with AI for digital technology music festival
What happens when an engineer and a composer collaborate with artificial intelligence on a piece of music?
Given the theme "A blue rainy day," algorithm engineer Gao Yuejie and composer Zhu Xuzhi created completely different sounds, with Gao enlisting the help of AI and Zhu using only his own skills and knowledge. Zhu, also a pianist, played both pieces, but also rearranged and enriched the AI-composed piece as he played.
The composer said AI could be "both friend and competitor to artists like me," while the engineer believed "true inspiration still comes from artists."
The performances on Thursday served as a preview of the upcoming "Digi Muse – 2024 Music+Technology Festival" at the Shanghai Concert Hall.
The festival, to be held in March and April, includes four concerts selected from more than 100 submissions from around the world, two Asia premieres by Berlin-based music theater ensemble Nico and Navigators, forums, and workshops, among other activities.
The festival also invited five renowned musicians as artist ambassadors to evaluate, tutor, and recommend selected works. The ambassadors are Chinese composer Yu Yang; German violinist Daniel Hop; Chinese-American composer and conductor Huang Ruo; Chinese composer and producer Chen Zhiyi, best known for composing the soundtrack of "Genshin Impact;" and British composer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev.
"The development of digital technology will inevitably be applied in artistic innovation and performances," said Fang Jing, general manager of the concert hall.
"The purpose of this festival is to present the excellent innovations coming out of collaborations between musicians and scientists, and hopefully explore various ways in which technology can better empower arts and arts can better enrich technology."
The concert hall called for such collaborations in December 2023, and received 102 submissions from around the world, including works by multinational teams. The five artist ambassadors picked four works of diverse styles and genres to be performed in April.
That includes a jazz concert that bridges classical music and Chinese folk elements; a contemporary digital remake of Quanzhou Nanyin, one of the oldest existing musical forms in China and known as a "living fossil" of China's musical history; an AI singer's version of Shanghai history; and an AI-empowered audio and visual feast of regional music culture from all around China.
The fest will also include two specially presented works by Nico and the Navigators, one of the most important independent music theater ensembles in Europe and famed for their "staged concerts" that have developed an extraordinary new approach to musical works.
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