The world’s first concert featuring artificial intelligence as an active creative participant is slated to unfold in Vladivostok on September 10, as part of the cultural program of the Eastern Economic Forum. The premiere will present Symphony No. 1, titled Cosmos, composed by Pyotr Dranga, performed by the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra alongside Sber’s neural network at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, according to Sber’s press service. This event marks a milestone in how technology and music intersect, signaling new possibilities for how orchestras can collaborate with intelligent systems on stage.
Symphony No. 1 for artificial intelligence and the Grand Symphony Orchestra follows a traditional four-movement classical form, allowing audiences to experience a familiar arc while witnessing a cutting-edge creative process unfold in real time. The work demonstrates how machine intelligence can be integrated into a live performance, not as a mere accompaniment but as a co-creator within a structured framework.
In the first two movements, the solo passages will be delivered by renowned virtuoso musicians from China, with the accompanying lines performed from pre-recorded material. During these movements, the SymFormer neural network will dynamically steer the expressive qualities of the performance on stage through a virtual synthesizer, translating its onstage control into nuanced, live musical expression that the audience can hear and feel.
The third and fourth movements present a different facet of this symphonic collaboration: SymFormer will generate improvisations in real time, inviting listeners to experience spontaneous musical invention as it happens rather than as a pre-programmed sequence. This live improvisation underscores the evolving role of artificial intelligence in creative performance, showing that AI can contribute fresh ideas within a concert setting rather than merely reproduce a stored dataset.
Dranga himself encouraged the neural network to rethink, modify, and complete the symphony, illustrating a mutual dialogue where human artistry and machine intelligence explore pathways neither might have pursued alone. The result is a performance in which artificial intelligence is a full-fledged participant in the creative process and a genuine co-author of the composition, transforming the traditional dynamic between composer, performers, and audience. This collaboration highlights Russia’s leadership in advancing AI technologies and showcases how these developments are finding tangible expression in contemporary art and culture.
A notable feature of the program is an art installation symbolizing the neuromusician as a techno doll, adding a visual dimension to the auditory experience. The centerpiece of this music installation will be SberBoom, a powerful smart speaker paired with Salyut’s virtual assistant, designed to demonstrate to festival-goers how deeply artificial intelligence technologies permeate the realms of creativity and art. The integration of these devices with live performance provides a multi-sensory perspective on AI, inviting audiences to consider both the music and the tools that shape it.
SymFormer, the AI model behind the project, operates on the principle of treating musical notation as a structured input to generate coherent musical outputs. It is built on the Performer architecture, a framework designed to support complex musical realization. The project underscores how machine-driven approaches can be harmonized with human musical intuition, creating a collaborative process that expands the expressive palette available to performers.
Sberbank notes that the system was trained using the ML Space platform, which relies on SymFormer’s Christofari supercomputer and a dataset comprising more than 200,000 songs across a broad spectrum of genres, from classical to modern electronic music and rock. This extensive data foundation enables the model to capture stylistic nuances and adapt its output to suit different movements within the symphony, offering listeners a diverse sonic journey while maintaining structural coherence.
For contemporary audiences in Canada and the United States, the Vladivostok premiere serves as a compelling case study in the practical deployment of AI in live music. It demonstrates how advanced neural networks can participate in orchestral performance without compromising the human touch that gives music its emotional resonance. The collaboration is a glimpse into a future where technology and art are intertwined in ways that are both technically sophisticated and emotionally engaging. Observers can expect a concert experience that blends precision, spontaneity, and a range of timbres that only AI-enabled instruments and processing can provide.
The project also raises important questions about authorship, collaboration, and the evolving definition of a composer. By redefining the roles within the creative team, it invites concertgoers to rethink how music is conceived, performed, and experienced in a world where machines can think in musical terms and respond to human input in real time. In this sense, the Russian initiative offers a global glimpse into how AI-driven creativity is shaping modern art and how audiences in North America might encounter similar performances in the near future.
In summary, the Cosmos symphony represents a bold fusion of classical form and artificial intelligence, performed by a world-class orchestra and augmented by onstage AI control and real-time improvisation. This event not only showcases cutting-edge technology but also underscores the ongoing collaboration between human creators and intelligent systems, signaling a new era for both music and machine-driven artistry. The Vladivostok performance stands as a landmark moment for cultural innovation within Russia and serves as an inspiration for audiences around the world who are curious about the future of live musical expression.
(Source: Sberbank press service)