4 March 2026
	Colombo, Sri Lanka
	Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre

“Furioso” Staged in Colombo
MUSIC4D Brings Ariosto’s Epic to Sri Lanka

The first experimental event of MUSIC4D travels to Sri Lanka: the robotic opera “Furioso” transforms the Nelum Pokuna Theatre in Colombo into a cutting-edge laboratory where operatic tradition meets artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday, March 4, at 7:00 PM, the prestigious Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre in Colombo will host a major milestone for MUSIC4D. The evening will feature a reconfigured version of “Furioso – Operatic Scenes”, the performative opera that marked the official debut of the project’s first experimental event in May 2025. It now arrives in Sri Lanka in an even more ambitious staging, both scenically and technologically.

The 1,200-seat theatre is fully sold out, confirming the strong interest generated by the initiative.

Freely inspired by Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem, the work represents an advanced expression of the MUSIC4D project — an initiative funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) — led by the Alessandro Scarlatti Conservatory of Palermo within a strategic network that includes the Conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia, together with the academic hubs of the University of Palermo (Department of Engineering) and the University of Calabria (DIMES – Department of Computer Engineering, Modeling, Electronics and Systems Engineering).

In this international version, the score — totaling 100 minutes of actual music — preserves full dramaturgical and musical coherence while further strengthening the experimental framework that defines the project: the interaction between live performance, robotics, and immersive virtual environments. The digital system functions as an intelligent and generative interlocutor, capable of expanding the stage space, processing data in real time, and offering the audience an experience that challenges traditional passivity, encouraging sensory and intellectual engagement mediated through technological interfaces.

This overseas presentation demonstrates the capacity of Italy’s Higher Education in Art, Music and Dance (AFAM) system to project abroad technologically intensive artistic production models capable of interpreting contemporary complexity. Through immersive environments and augmented reality, “Furioso” expands the horizons of contemporary opera, guiding Mediterranean literary heritage toward new forms of experience and participation.

The Colombo performance thus reinforces the vision of MUSIC4D: to build an integrated educational and production ecosystem in which Southern Italy’s musical excellence engages in dialogue with scientific and technological innovation, assuming an active role in the global transformation processes of the creative sector.