Furioso – Operatic Tableaux: with Music4D, Ariosto Steps into the Future

Robots, Music, and Augmented Reality Rewriting Orlando in the Contemporary Scene

Sunday, May 25 in Palermo: the first experimental event blending art, music, and the metaverse.

PALERMO (May 23, 2025) – A date marking a before and after in the relationship between music, technology, and artistic education. On Sunday, May 25, at the Real Teatro Santa Cecilia of Palermo Furioso – Operatic Tableaux takes the stage: the first experimental event within the MUSIC4D project, born from the synergy of the Conservatories of Sicily and Sardinia, the University of Palermo (Department of Engineering), and the University of Calabria. A one‑of‑a‑kind performative work that blends the energy of operatic language with the immersive interaction offered by artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics.

Freely inspired by Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem, Furioso – Operatic Tableaux redefines the boundaries of musical theater through an innovative dramaturgy: ten scenes, two physical automata integrated into the stage action, and the use of the metaverse for the display and interaction with dynamic digital content. Alongside the classic protagonists—Orlando, Angelica, Ruggiero, Sacripante, Agramante—appear two units of Pepper, the social humanoid robot capable of recognizing human faces and emotions. One of them portrays Astolfo, the visionary knight and symbolic guide: he will lead the heroes out of the Magician Atlante’s labyrinth, on an allegorical journey between reality and simulation.