MUSIC4D in Hong Kong: the future of the South ignites between AI, music and cultural diplomacy

An institutional and artistic mission of the Palermo Conservatory takes the Asian stage: between pioneering performances, strategic alliances and new international prospects, the MUSIC4D project asserts itself as an innovative model for Southern AFAM.

From 23 to 27 June 2024, a delegation from the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Conservatory of Music in Palermo represented Italy at the 34th SIBMAS Conference in Hong Kong, the most prestigious Asian event dedicated to the performing arts. The delegation featured Professor Raffaele Longo, Professor Michelangelo Galeati, Scientific Coordinator Professor Fabio Crescente, and Administrative Director Dr. Raimondo Cipolla, all engaged in promoting and disseminating the results of MUSIC4D — the project that combines artificial intelligence, robotics, and the metaverse to reinvent the languages of musical performance.

Selected by the Ministry of University and Research as the top national project for quality and budget under the PNRR-AFAM, MUSIC4D is funded with nearly six million euros, dedicated to valorizing the musical and creative heritage of Southern Italy. In Hong Kong, the project was presented to an international audience of over 200 institutions, garnering significant interest.

At the heart of the project lies an all-Southern consortium involving every Conservatory in Sicily — Palermo, Trapani, Caltanissetta, Ribera, Catania, and Messina — and in Sardinia — Cagliari and Sassari — alongside the Department of Engineering at the University of Palermo (UNIPA) and the University of Calabria (UNICAL).

Emblematic was the performance by the humanoid robot NAO, capable of interacting in real time with a jazz quartet from the Palermo Conservatory, contributing emotion and rhythm to a live improvisation. The presentation, enthusiastically received by SIBMAS President Nic Leonhardt, gave tangible form to one of MUSIC4D’s key objectives: exploring new expressive possibilities through the creative integration of AI and the musical body.

The mission included an institutional meeting at the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong, where Director Dr. Anna Fratarcangeli and Consul Carmelo Ficarra expressed full appreciation for the project, underlining its cultural and geopolitical impact. They also proposed organizing a MUSIC4D event during the upcoming celebrations of Italian Republic Day in Hong Kong.

The final stage took place at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, China’s second conservatory after Beijing. There, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two institutions, opening the door to strategic cooperation between the Italian consortium led by Palermo and the Asian AFAM system. The Academy’s Director, Professor Iñaki Sandoval, has already scheduled an official visit to Palermo for next autumn.

This mission marked a pivotal moment for the internationalization of Southern AFAM, reinforcing MUSIC4D’s role as a cultural, technological, and diplomatic platform for developing new creative ecosystems based on artificial intelligence, young talent, and international cooperation.