Another Robot (Semi)Conductor Takes the Podium

In Saturday’s (10/13) Guardian (U.K.), Deborah Cole writes, “She’s not long on charisma or passion but keeps perfect rhythm and is never prone to temperamental outbursts against the musicians beneath her three batons. Meet MAiRA Pro S, the next-generation robot conductor who made her debut this weekend in Dresden. Her two performances in the eastern German city are intended to show off the latest advances in machine maestros, as well as music written explicitly to harness 21st-century technology. The artistic director of Dresden’s Sinfoniker, Markus Rindt, said the intention was ‘not to replace human beings’ but to perform complex music that human conductors would find impossible. The Sinfoniker, long known for innovation and political statements, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the Robotersinfonie at the Hellerau hall in a concert divided into two parts, one purely human and, after the interval, one that is robot-led…. The composer Andreas Gundlach wrote the aptly named Semiconductor’s Masterpiece for 16 brass musicians and four percussionists playing wildly diverging time signatures…. Rindt worked with specialists from Technical University Dresden’s CeTI, which stands for Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop. It pursues innovation based on the principle that robots and people can cooperate rather than compete.”