Opera of the Future
The Opera of the Future group explores the intersection of multisensory musical expression, creativity with AI, and sonic healing. The group develops new technologies, artistic experiences, and research methods that expand the role of music in creativity, learning, health, and human connection.
Current research includes the development of new models of musical AI that enable meaningful collaboration between human performers and intelligent systems. Recent projects include Flow Symphony, an AI-assisted composition exploring real-time interaction between chamber musicians and AI. The group also investigates how live music can improve mental health and well-being, how music and technology can support stroke rehabilitation and recovery, and how the design of physical spaces shapes emotional and musical experience.
Opera remains a central artistic platform for the group. With pioneering works such as Death and the Powers and Schoenberg in Hollywood, the group continues to reinvent music through immersive storytelling, interactive technologies, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Current creative projects include a major AI-infused composition for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a City Symphony for Seoul, and a new immersive opera based on Richard Powers' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory.
What We're Looking For:
We welcome students who are passionate about inventing the future of music, performance, and human expression. Ideal applicants are excited by the intersection of music, artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and immersive experiences, and are eager to collaborate across disciplines.
Applicants should have a strong musical background or artistic practice, along with expertise in one or more complementary areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, software or hardware design, robotics, neuroscience, human-computer interaction, interface design, digital fabrication, immersive media, or creative coding. Above all, we seek curious, imaginative, and collaborative students who are interested in creating new forms of musical experience that can have artistic, educational, and societal impact.
Special Requirements:
A portfolio of work (including musical examples) is required with your application. Posting materials online is encouraged.
Learn about applying through the Program in Media Arts & Sciences.