World Premiere of futuristic HOLO HARMONIES on December 1

After four years of development work, the artistic team for HOLO HARMONIES are entering the home stretch. What artistic director Markus Korselt and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (SKO) have undertaken with this world premiere can rightly be called futuristic. What’s more, it is unprecedented and unheard of in the literal sense of the word. Cutting-edge technology with 4K resolution connects two venues that are almost 600 kilometres apart. The live performances of the orchestra under the direction of Thomas Zehetmair and the Czech National Ballet are “beamed up“ onto the other stage, in the form of photo-realistic holograms alongside the physically present artists.

However, the novelty of HOLO HARMONIES does not only lie in its advanced digital technology. The production under the XR direction of Jana Günther is a three-fold premiere, consisting of the new creation by the Italian star choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti for the Czech National Ballet, the electronic soundtrack by Sven Helbig, as a contemporary comment on and continuation of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, as well as the animations by Moritz Mayerhofer, which introduce a cinematic element and act as a visual meta-level for the music.

Franz Schubert’s iconic work, complemented by Helbig’s compositions and reflected in dance and film, thus gains additional layers of meaning. In any case, HOLO HARMONIES holds a unique promise for the audience: the encounter of man and transcendence, a journey into other spheres – based upon and created by the innovative, poignant interaction of three arts.

HOLO HARMONIES sets the bar very high in every respect. In order to calibrate the view on each seat individually, the auditoriums of both venues were completely 3D-scanned in advance. More important than technical perfection, however, is the immersive 3D look. Spiral nebulae, moons and star clusters create a setting that translates the conflict between life and death into stunning cosmic images.

In the history of music, there are few pieces that epitomise the struggle between this world and the hereafter as powerfully as Death and the Maiden by Franz Schubert. Therefore, it is no wonder that the team thought of Schubert’s legendary string quartet when they developed the concept for HOLO HARMONIES. The multidisciplinary project is all about bridging the gap between the physical and the spiritual – or in today’s terms – the analogue and virtual spheres.

XR Director & Creative Producer Jana Günther explains: “We aim for maximum immersion for the audience. While at the same time a varied, other-worldly, ambiguous experience. Working on HOLO HARMONIES, I have been fascinated by how we create a whole new dimension of simultaneity. Because thanks to technology, we will experience the same thing in both places – without ever seeing the identical thing!”

HOLO HARMONIES will have its world premiere on 1 December at 8 pm. Click here to book now.