Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Rossini.
The first holographic, AI-enhanced opera production in Haifa, Israel.
As the music begins, both the characters and the audience are transported to the vibrant days of Seville's Feria de Abril, when the entire city is swept up in carnival celebrations.
A colourful procession of characters passes before our eyes: Count Almaviva — a celebrated blogger, hopelessly in love with the beautiful Rosina, a promising designer; her friend Berta — a fiery young woman in eager search of romance; Rosina's relative and tutor, Doctor Bartolo — determined to preserve his authority over his ward; and, inevitably, the key figure of the story — the author himself, Monsieur Beaumarchais, appearing on stage in the guise of Figaro — the famous hero of Rossini's opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia. AI holographic characters were used throughout the whole performance.
Haifa Symphony Orchestra
ConductorYoel Levi
Stage directorElina Amromina
Set & AI designerMikhail Uchitelev
FigaroEduardo Martinez
Count AlmavivaAaron Blake
RosinaShiri Magar
Don BartoloOr Bennatan
Don BasilioYuri Kissin
BertaAudelia Shallev
FiorelloLev Elgardt
AmbrogioJarek Obraztsov
OfficerDmitry Andreev
ChoirThe Bat-Shir Choir
Choir directorTali Weissmann
Costumes & propsGai Hoffmann
Light designerDan Glazer
Hair & makeupDana Nina Reuven
ConcertmasterInna Koiton
Haifa, 22 and 23 December 2024
PRESS:
The production featured the Haifa Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Yoel Levy, directed by Elina Amromina, with soloists from Israel and abroad, and the Bat Shir Choir under the musical direction of Tali Weissman... The scenery is spectacular and innovative. Except for a few real chairs, the dynamic set is projected from all sides, creating a sense of depth, into which the actors are absorbed as they leave the stage. The scenic marvel was created using artificial intelligence... (Hagit Bat Eliezer, review for בכיוון הרוח)
...We try not only to turn to the stunning musical fabric created by Rossini, but also to return to Beaumarchais’s original concept. The opera’s plot has been repeated many times in literature since the time of Plautus, but Beaumarchais departs from the standard formula, combining not only Figaro’s trickster plot, but also a hidden Faustian plot...
The use of artificial intelligence not only in set design but also in video dramaturgy, or film dramaturgy, if you will. All our wonderful classical singers sing live, and there’s a live orchestra on stage, but we combine the virtual world of artificial intelligence with the real world: singers, real objects, and digital sets — everything interacts in a single space. We move the action from Seville to the present day, and we set the entire story during carnival. Seville hosts the famous Feria de Abril (April Fair and Festival). So we begin our story during carnival, when everyone changes costumes and appearances...
With all this in mind, we begin the play, placing our characters in a virtual, three-dimensional, living world created using artificial intelligence. (interview for ISRAELI CULTURE)