Deep Siesta

Amen Feizabadi presents his new chamber opera, “Deep Siesta”, on his portrait album. It tells the story of the artificial beings Ök and Mani, who – born of digital chaos – discover the world with curiosity and an open mind. They encounter beauty and emotions, but also the contradictions and abysses of the human condition, and resolve to destroy humanity and, ultimately, themselves.

With “Deep Siesta”, Feizabadi dares to offer a radical shift in perspective on the ubiquitous discourse surrounding artificial intelligence: we experience human existence from the AI’s point of view. Through the protagonists’ eyes, we look as though through a prism, in which our own reflection is shattered into its myriad components and appears alien and shadowy to us.

The 85-minute work “Deep Siesta” focuses on acoustic music – performed by the Zafraan Ensemble and the Neue Vocalsolisten. However, the boundary between reality and virtuality becomes increasingly blurred by AI-generated voices, images and electronic sound effects. Dilek Mayatürk’s libretto also enters into a dialogue with the aimless AI. Starting with scattered fragments of words and progressing to more complex linguistic connections, it builds to an emotional climax in the shift from German to Persian. This is interwoven with auratic elements of traditional Persian music, in an attempt at a universal reinterpretation.

A release of Contemporary Music Edition
Coproduction Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Deutscher Musikrat gGmbH