For the Houston Symphony’s May 18-20 performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring led by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the orchestra is partnering with media artist, director, and composer Klaus Obermaier and Ars Electronica Futurelab to present “The Rite of Spring 3D.” Obermaier’s staging of the ballet uses real-time technology to turn the movements of a solo dancer into virtual objects. With the help of stereoscopic cameras and 3D glasses, audiences will be immersed in a highly visual concert experience. Several stereoscopic cameras will capture the onstage movements of contemporary dancer Yuka Oishi as she responds to Stravinsky’s music onstage, feeding into a complex computer system. This system will in turn generate and project 3D animations onto a screen suspended above the orchestra. The orchestra’s sounds—captured through microphones clipped to players’ instruments—are integrated in the interactive process and relayed into the computer system, helping to influence the form, movement, and complexity of the 3D projections of the virtual space and the dancer.
Posted May 8, 2018
