Barcelona hosts first in-person and virtual choir concert with help of AI

The first in-person and virtual choir concert was hosted in Barcelona’s Santa Maria del Pi church, with a repertoire mastered with the help of the online AI learning tool Cantāmos. It was co-organised by the vocal quartet Cantoría, the European project TROMPA, Pompeu Fabra University and the Catalan College of Music. 

The first part of the concert was sung in-situ by Catalan College of Music students and the second part was performed virtually by choirs around the globe.

The online tool, Cantāmus, employed by the vocalists uses artificial intelligence to give feedback to amateur as well as professional singers learning the scores. 

This tool, enabling people to record themselves and then receive comments, has meant that people around the world have had the opportunity to work on the scores, learn them and eventually perform them in unison.

Once each individual has successfully recorded themselves through the program, the AI will then generate a virtual choir uniting voices from all over, an option which was also available to the singers present at the church.

In this case, it has enabled students to learn two pieces from the Iberian Renaissance, ‘Oy comamos y bebamos’ by Juan del Encina and ‘Sus, sus, sus’ by Bartomeu Cáceres, and participate in their performance, carrying the additional benefit of spreading Spanish Baroque music around the globe.

For those unable to physically attend, the concert was made accessible via streaming.