Artificial intelligence played a major role in a new staging of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, and not everyone in the audience was pleased, according to The Associated Press.
The production, titled “10010110” and subtitled “From Myth to Code,” was created to mark the 150th anniversary of the first full Ring Cycle performances. Curator Marcus Lobbes said the team made clear it was intended as an experiment rather than a traditional stage-directed drama.
To build the show, the team fed about 1,000 images from past Bayreuth Ring productions into a collection of AI models. The result placed singers between two large screens, with minimal movement over the four-night, 14 1/2-hour performance, while the visuals shifted through images selected by software.
After the final performance of “Götterdämmerung” on Saturday night, conductor Christian Thielemann and the cast received a 17-minute ovation. When the production team came out for their bows, the response included about 30 seconds of boos and whistles, according to the AP.
