KTH Royal Institute of Technology has commissioned a new opera from Åsa and Carl Unander-Scharin, called “The Tale of the Great Computing Machine”. The opera will have its world premiere in the Reactor Hall of KTH – 25 meters below ground – on December 1, 2022. https://www.kth.se/en/thetale
The opera is based on a book, written by Hannes Alfvén in 1966. Alfvén – awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1970 – had a deep and visionary understanding of the future of technology. In the book, Alfvén envisages a great deal of the developments we are already a part of today. His descriptions – partly disturbing and partly humorous – of the future relationship between humans and technology makes it continuously relevant.
Transforming the monologue in the original book into a libretto, required many creative interventions and ideas; such as the invention of the six roles as well as their role-names: Computa, Carbon, Oxygeni, Hydrogenii, Argon and Nitritio. These names are based on the gases present in the Earth’s atmosphere – with the addition of the feminized version of the voice from the future (in accordance with Hannes Alfvén´s Swedish original). In collaboration with Nils Spangenberg from the Vadstena-Academy, a libretto was written by Åsa and Carl Unander-Scharin and later put to music by Carl.
In the artistic rendering of the book, the Opera Mecatronica-tandem (Åsa and Carl U-S) are using a long range of their custom-built artistic technologies, as well as creating new artifacts for this particular opera.
”Maybe the AI creator will take over the opera soon”
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”Gripping operatic saga with AI in the lead role”
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”It is a well-conceived existential meditation over the function of technology within the human life space.”
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”In the Unander-Scharin’s computer opera, Alfvén’s saga is less a libretto than a starting point and source of inspiration”
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COMPOSER
Carl Unander-Scharin
LIBRETTO
Åsa Unander-Scharin & Carl Unander-Scharin in collaboration with Nils Spangenberg; built on a book by Hannes Alfvén from 1966
STAGING & CHOREOGRAPHY
Åsa Unander-Scharin
MUSICAL DIRECTION
Carl Unander-Scharin
VISUAL DESIGN & SOFTWARE
Ludvig Elblaus
ROBOT CHOREOGRAPHY
Åsa Unander-Scharin
COSTUME DESIGN
Anna Ardelius
MAKEUP DESIGN
Therésia Frisk
LIGHTING DESIGN
Jimmy Svensson
DIRECTOR´S ASSISTANT & SUBTITLES
Olov Nilsson
COMPUTA (ALTO)
Anna Larsson
ARGON (DANCER)
Arina Trostyanetskaya
HYDROGENII (SOPRANO)
Elísabet Eínarsdottir
OXYGENI (MEZZO)
Linnea Andreassen
NITRITIO (BARITONE)
Jacob Högström
CARBON (BASS)
John Erik Eleby
ROBOT QUEEN
YuMi IRB 14000-501646 (ABB)
ROBOT KING
YuMi IRB 14000-500269 (ABB)
VIOLIN
Rebecka Karlsson
RECORDERS
Kerstin Frödin
LIRONE & BASS VIOLA DA GAMBA
Nora Roll
BASS TROMBONE & CONTRA BASS TROMBONE
Lars Westergren
PERCUSSION
Rolf Landberg
MUSICAL COACHES
Martin Hellström, Michael Engström & Ludvig Nilsson
THE VOCAL CHORDER
Carl Unander-Scharin, Åsa Unander-Scharin, Ludvig Elblaus & Tobias Jaeger (with support from Kulturbryggan, Luleå University of Technology and Karlstad University)
THE OBSERVER
Carl Unander-Scharin, Åsa Unander-Scharin & Ludvig Elblaus (with support from Kulturbryggan, Luleå University of Technology and Karlstad University)
GESTURAL OBBLIGATO & MIMICKING ORGAN
Federico Visi, Carl Unander-Scharin & Åsa Unander-Scharin (with support from Kulturbryggan, Luleå University of Technology and Karlstad University)
THE SUSPENDED CHOIR
Federico Visi, Carl Unander-Scharin, Åsa Unander-Scharin & Jimmy Svensson (with support from Kulturbryggan, Luleå University of Technology and Karlstad University)
TECHNICAL LEADER & STAGE MANAGER
Jimmy Svensson
ASSISTANT ROBOTICS PROGRAMMING
Elsa Benzinger
SOUND & RECORDINGS
Maurice Mogard
COSTUME CUTTER & TAILOR
Mika Luther
COSTUME AND MAKEUP DURING PERFORMANCES
Barbro Lennartsdotter
PRESS PHOTOS
Martin Hellström
LANGUAGE COACH
Jeremy Carpenter
PUBLISHER
Svensk Musik
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Project manager: Ellie Karlsson
Initiator, project manager, director of R1: Leif Handberg
VADSTENA-AKADEMIEN
Managing and artistic director: Nils Spangenberg
Production planning: Terese Lindström
