Disrupting Opera, AI and the Art of Co-Collaboration: Dumbworld

Artists all around the world are trying to make sense of what the advance of artificial intelligence will mean for their creative work. Will the very human traits of passion and creativity survive in a world where we let ever more intelligent machines do the work for us? In Belfast, the innovative people behind production company Dumbworld have been thinking about this question in radical ways, integrating AI into their mission to bring opera to the masses. Ivor Novello winning composer Brian Irvine and librettist John McIlduff brought a number of their street operas to Other Voices in Dingle, and at Ireland’s Edge they spoke with musician and cultural consultant Dermot McLaughlin about shaking up opera and why they were moved to do so, harnessing technology to open up the art form to whole new audiences, and the implications and applications of AI for opera, music and the wider creative industries.

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