Robots, Music, and Augmented Reality Rewrite Orlando for the Contemporary Stage
Palermo, May 23, 2025 – A date that marks a turning point in the relationship between music, technology, and artistic education. On Sunday, May 25, the Real Teatro Santa Cecilia in Palermo will host the premiere of Furioso – Operatic Scenes, the first experimental event within the framework of the MUSIC4D project. The initiative is the result of a collaboration between the Conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia, the University of Palermo (Department of Engineering), and the University of Calabria.This one-of-a-kind performative opera blends the expressive power of the operatic language with the immersive interaction made possible by artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics.
Loosely inspired by Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem, Furioso – Operatic Scenes redefines the boundaries of musical theatre through an innovative dramaturgy: ten scenes, two physical humanoid robots integrated into the stage action, and the use of the metaverse for real-time visualization and interaction with dynamic digital content. Alongside the classic characters—Orlando, Angelica, Ruggero, Sacripante, Agramante—appear two Pepper robots, the socially intelligent humanoids capable of recognizing emotions and human faces. One of them plays Astolfo, the visionary knight and symbolic guide, who leads the heroes out of the labyrinth created by the sorcerer Atlante, on an allegorical journey between reality and simulation.
A Collective Work for a Possible Future
The event represents both a challenge and a statement of intent: on one side, the voices of soloists and the vibrant sound of the orchestra formed by the conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia; on the other, the exploration of technological frontiers—a meeting point between emotion, imagination, and binary code. The performance is conducted by Adriana Hernández Flores, and the inter-institutional production is part of MUSIC4D, a project funded by Italy’s PNRR and dedicated to enhancing Italian-Mediterranean musical heritage through innovative models of teaching, production, and artistic experience.
“With the May 25 event, we are exploring new artistic frontiers through robotics, immersive reality, and the metaverse”, says Fabio Crescente, production manager and project coordinator in Palermo.
It’s a key milestone in our journey: proving that art, emotion, and innovation can coexist and that technology can bring us closer, not further, to the stage and to human experience”.
Training the Musicians of Tomorrow with the Tools of Today
The introduction of digital and robotic languages into higher artistic education is not a passing experimental trend—it is an urgent necessity. In a connected, ever-evolving world, the artist must be able to navigate complexity, engage with new media environments, and translate the transformations of their time into expressive forms. In this sense, Furioso – Operatic Scenes also serves as a laboratory, a space for aesthetic and pedagogical research, where interaction with the audience and the collection of emotional and qualitative data become tools for developing new educational models.
“MUSIC4D represents an educational model that looks toward the future,
emphasizes Mauro Visconti, Director of the Alessandro Scarlatti Conservatory of Palermo.
The integration of artificial intelligence, immersive environments, and live performance is not an end in itself, but a key to expanding the musical language and training artists capable of navigating the present. Projects like this pave the way for a form of teaching that is also research, for an art that is also thought”.
Technology as the Voice of the Contemporary
This event is not simply a performance—it is a shared experience. With the support of a team of psychologists from the Department of Psychological, Pedagogical, Physical Education and Training Sciences (DSPPEFF), the audience will be actively involved in an experience that challenges passive consumption and invites sensory and intellectual participation. Through headsets, avatars, and interfaces, the digital system becomes an intelligent interlocutor, capable of adapting to the audience’s perceptions and offering a personalized, fluid experience.This marks a step forward for the AFAM system and for Italian musical culture, which—through MUSIC4D—demonstrates its ability to embrace innovation without betraying tradition, opening up new spaces for creation, learning, and dialogue between the arts, local communities, and technologies.
