Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina

Workshop series on human–AI improvisation and intelligent staging with opera communities worldwide

This international workshop series brings together key actors in the opera ecosystem (leading opera houses, innovators, independent artists and producers) as well as those new to opera, to explore how AI can drive creativity-led innovation in the live arts.

We adopt an interdisciplinary, practice-based methodology combining design-thinking and co-creation workshops, iterative prototyping, and ethnographic & arts-based action research to critically engage questions of agency, authorship, algorithmic governance and equitable value distribution in AI-mediated live cultural production. It aims to advance new ideas and legal, ethical, and business model frameworks for human–AI co-creativity and civic participation.

Together, we will foster a reciprocal exchange in which artistic processes inform AI engineering and sustainable business design, while technological affordances expand creative and participatory possibilities.

Eventbrite page here. VIP registration. Public registration open 1st April.

An experimental workshop exploring digital inclusion and innovation through human–AI improvisation.

This workshop, part of Tuning into Opera, a research and engagement initiative from English National Opera and The University of Manchester, and the OperAI: Future of Opera series, invites you to experience live opera reimagined through human–AI collaboration.

Led by Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, Bicentenary Fellow at the University of Manchester and director of Operactive Arts, and Dr Kamila Rymajdo, Research Fellow at English National Opera, the event showcases scenes from a newly-created immersive sci-fi opera series both about and driven by AI. Witness performers collaborate in real time with adaptive AI systems, responding to live audience data, then take part yourself. As playful Yōkai, the mischievous spirits of Japanese folklore, you will get the chance to play in a gamified orchestra via your smartphone, directly shaping the performance.

Supported by Creative Manchester at The University of Manchester, this workshop explores how AI technologies can make opera more accessible, participatory, and relevant for 21st-century audiences.

Speakers (left to right):
Bob Holland (Executive Producer at English National Opera)
Jennie McCusker (Associate Director of New Work and Skills at English National Opera)
Lauren Monaghan-Pisano (Director of Strategy and Partnerships at English National Opera)
Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina (Bicentenary Fellow in the Music Department at the University of Manchester)
Dr Jennifer Cearns (Lecturer in AI in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Manchester)

Agenda:

4.00pm: Welcome from Creative Manchester
4.15pm: Tech demo (emotion engine)
4.25pm: Performance demonstration with Operactive Arts
5.25pm: Break and audience survey
5.45pm: Panel discussion with Dr Alexandra Huang-Kokina, Bob Holland, Jennie McCusker, Lauren Monaghan-Pisano (Chair) and Dr Jennifer Cearns
6.15pm: Drinks reception