Via artsjournal.com, our invaluable host, comes this fascinating story about a robot conductor (no jokes just yet, please):
The latest human activity to be mastered by robots was demonstrated recently when Sony’s QRIO bot successfully conducted an entire orchestra.
The 58-centimetre-tall humanoid robot led the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in a unique rendition of Beethoven’s 5th symphony during a concert held at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo on 15 March….
The full story is here, together with a link to a short RealPlayer videoclip of an excerpt from the “unique rendition.” Take a look–but listen, too. While I can think of a few conductors on whom QRIO’s “interpretation” of Beethoven’s Fifth might possibly be an improvement, I think it’s likely to be a little while longer before Lorin Maazel needs to start sweating.