Composer Edgar Maken has created a chamber opera on artificial intelligence and physical distance / Article

The show takes place in the distant future for about a decade. The main character lives with an intangible artificial intelligence – Digital Assistant on behalf of DIA. This is the era when physical distance – the legacy of the epidemic and global digitization – has become the dominant lifestyle, and the currency “contact”, equivalent to one view of virtual content, has been recognized as a global currency. Everyone participates in the struggle for “contacts”, while the woman’s voice-speaking DIA dreams of gaining a body to build a full-fledged relationship with her master. And what will he say about this idea himself?

The original work “Kontakts” was made with the financial support of the State Cultural Capital Fund’s target program “Support for the Development of the Musical Theater Genre” and is the debut opera genre of composer Edgars Mākens, who has also graduated from the JVLMA composition department.

Mākens has gathered a bright creative team – poet, author of texts Sergejs Timofejevs, director Inārs Sluckis and artist Krišs Salmanis, as well as young artists – musician Alice Rancāns and string quartet “JUNO”. The title roles are performed by the soloist of the Latvian National Opera Kalvis Kalniņš and the young soloist Kitija Mināte.

Work on the chamber opera began in the spring of 2020, when we first experienced forced self-isolation caused by a pandemic. Inspired by and responding to the events, emotions and situations that people experience and feel, the artists fantasized about how such lasting isolation could develop.

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