For the first time, a robot conducted a German orchestra: The Dresden Symphony Orchestra performed the music of the future with the machine maestro.
He doesn’t have much charisma or humor, but he always stays in tune: On Sunday, a robot conducted a German orchestra for the first time – the Dresden Symphony Orchestra made music history. At the premiere of the “Robot.Symphony” program, technology and musicians ran like clockwork in Dresden’s Festspielhaus Hellerau. The audience was enthusiastic and applauded loudly.
With the Norwegian Magnus Loddgard there was also a flesh-and-blood conductor. After the break, he left the management of the concert entirely to the machines.
Strictly speaking, the robot is a mechanical maestro with three arms that can set different tempos for individual groups in the orchestra. The musical helper is called “MAiRA Pro S”.
Symphony director Markus Rindt was able to recruit specialists from the Technical University of Dresden for the project. In the CeTI (Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop) Cluster of Excellence, the conductor’s machine, equipped with seven joints, “learned” how to beat beats and display dynamics. “We do not aim to replace conductors in the future,” said Rindt. But they want to break new ground and try out what can be done with a robot at the desk.
Thanks to technology, the machine conductor can do something that a “real” conductor cannot, for example in the piece “#kreuzknot” by Wieland Reissmann. “Two of its three arms lead the orchestra through intersecting tempos. Some of the musicians begin slowly and accelerate, while the other half retard,” explains Rindt. Here you can read more about preparing for the first concert with “MAiRA Pro S”.
The Dresden Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary with the concert. The ensemble includes musicians from well-known orchestras from home and abroad and is committed exclusively to contemporary music.