Robot steals show from Italy top tenor

Kiwi opera diva retires

PISA, Sept 13, (AFP): Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s voice soars to the rafters of the Tuscan theatre, but all eyes are on the orchestral conductor beside him — a robot with an apparent penchant for Verdi.

The concert in the heart of Pisa is a world first, with two mechanical “arms” conducting live music at the grand finale of the first International Festival of Robotics.

The Swiss-designed YuMi sweeps its baton skywards with one hand, while the other curves around in a caress that spurs on the strings as the operatic “La Donna E’ Mobile” (“Woman Is Fickle”) reaches its climax.

But music lovers beware: YuMi can conduct set pieces, but cannot improvise, react or interact with the musicians.

“It was extremely difficult to train,” says Andrea Colombini, the conductor of the Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra which performed with Bocelli and soprano Maria Luigia Borsi on Tuesday.

YuMi, designed by robotics leader ABB, was taught to mimic Colombini’s gestures.

The maestro said the automaton was far more sophisticated than its “rival” Asimo, the white four-foot (1.2-metre) robot designed by Honda which conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2008.

“We’re not talking about Asimo’s limited up-anddown, one-arm movement ... YuMi is extremely flexible and its arms have the same mobility as mine,” he told AFP.

YuMi does not stand, however: It sits on a pedestal that gives it the support it needs to move its long arms.

It’s not a particularly friendly looking robot, and Colombini acknowledged that they did not get on at first.

“It was not love at first sight. At the start I kept getting wound up because it kept getting stuck, and when the robot gets stuck it takes 25 to 30 minutes to reset it,” he said.

“It took a long time,” he added: Training YuMi to perform six minutes of music “took 17 hours of work.”

Borsi looked apprehensive as she stood in her shocking pink concert gown, waiting for the robot to begin directing the classic soprano aria “O Mio Babbino Caro” (“Oh My Beloved Father”) by Puccini.

The effect is somewhat odd: the musicians watch for the first baton stroke and gamely follow it throughout the aria, but the traditional vitality of a human conductor — keeping tempo with the whole body, even through the breathing — is missing.

Bocelli, who is visually impaired, had to remember the tempo YuMi had been taught down to the second.

Any unprogrammed “accelerando” or “rallentando” would have been disastrous, as he had no way to get the conductor to follow his lead.

“There’s no way it could replace the sensitivity and emotion of a conductor, because a robot has no soul. It’s just an arm, not the brain, not the heart,” Colombini said.

Later, when the conductor himself takes to the stage, his whole body sways and thrusts — and the difference is startling.

Bocelli

WELLINGTON:

New Zealand opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, hailed as one of the greatest sopranos of the modern age, officially announced her retirement Wednesday at the age of 73.

Te Kanawa has not performed publicly for about a year but told the BBC she did not intend to perform in front of an audience again.

“I don’t want to hear my voice, it is in the past,” she told the British broadcaster.

“When I’m teaching young singers and hearing beautiful young fresh voices, I don’t want to put my voice next to theirs.”

Te Kanawa’s career spanned more than five decades and included performances at the world’s top opera houses, although she is best known as the diva who sang at Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding in 1981.

“I’ve had such an amazing career,” she said, adding that it had taken her five years “to say the goodbye in my own mind”.

Her big break came in 1971 at Covent Garden when she was cast as the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”.

She soon found herself among opera’s elite, sharing the stage with the likes of Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo.

She became a household name when performing a Handel aria at the royal wedding, watched by a global television audience of more than 600 million.

“It got me a lot of recognition,” she later said. “But it was only a wedding and my job was doing opera at the time, so I wasn’t into weddings. I just happened to sing at a very important one.”

Te Kanawa was also invited to perform at Diana’s funeral in 1997, but declined as she was too upset over the princess’ death.

NEW YORK:

Also:

Top names in entertainment Tuesday raised millions of dollars for survivors of mega-storms Harvey and Irma, with Stevie Wonder and Beyonce also urging attention on climate change.

Dubbed “Hand in Hand”, the one-hour telethon was broadcast live on all US television networks with mega-stars from George Clooney to Justin Bieber to Julianne Moore answering phones to take pledges.

After an hour of performances in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and San Antonio, comic Billy Crystal said the telethon raised $14.55 million with more expected as calls came in.

Apple donated $5 million — with co-host Stephen Colbert joking that the figure was the price of the company’s new iPhone unveiled earlier Tuesday — and chemical giant Merck announced $1 million, although it was not clear if the amounts were part of the total.

Stevie Wonder opened the evening with a rendition of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” backed by a gospel choir as urged “love” rather than divisions.

Beyonce — in a video message that marks her most visible appearance since giving birth to twins in June — said the disasters caused more sorrow “during a time when it’s impossible to watch the news without seeing violence or racism in this country.”

“The effects of climate change are playing out around the world every day,” she said, mentioning as well deadly monsoon floods in India.

While no celebrities overtly attacked President Donald Trump, he has pulled the United States out of the Paris accord on climate change, which experts say is contributing to worsening storms, and last week announced an end to protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived as children.