We are pleased to welcome Professor Patricia Alessandrini of the Haute Ecole de Musique (HEMU) and University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) for an informal talk at King’s College London to take place in Becket House (1 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7EU) in the 5th floor large seminar room from 1:30pm–2:30pm on Wednesday, 29 January 2025. Patricia’s visit is hosted with Professor Christos Bergeles. Catering to follow, thanks to Dr. Stuart Molloy and courtesy of the new EPSRC CDT in Advanced Engineering for Personalised Surgery & Intervention.
Creating an empathetic “pet” capable of singing with soft robotics
Patricia Alessandrini, Professor of Artistic Research
HEMU – Haute Ecole de Musique
HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Rieman and Baketel Fellow for Music, Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Abstract: In this talk, I will present my current project, which is the creation of a soft robotic “pet” which reacts emphathetically to biosensor data and is capable of singing in response.
The creature-pet will use a “tentacle” to collect biodata using pulse and GSR sensors, and will then breathe in tandem with the participant providing the data and will also vocalize according to it.
The vocalization will be produced through a system replicating the vocal folds and vocal tract, developed in collaboration with Marie Tricaud and Konstantin Leonenko. Soft robotics will be used to dynamically control the vocal formants. [1]
The creature-pet will also have expressive movement controlled using the STIFF-FLOP (STIFFness controllable Flexible and Learn-able manipulator for surgical Operations) model developed at King’s College London, which is capable of providing transitions between stiff and soft states, and is most often used in surgical research. [2]
This work is a commission from the Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, where I am currently in residence as an invited artist and professor, and will be shown as an interactive installation in the Fresnoy’s Panorama exposition in Fall 2025. It will also be a part of a larger music-theater staged work to be performed by Marisol Montalvo, Donatienne Michel-Dansac and Schallfeld Ensemble conducted by Leonhard Garms.
[1] Based on previous research in soft formant formation, see for instance: Yoshimura, Fou, and Kazuhiro Jo. “A ‘voice’ instrument based on vocal tract models by using soft material for a 3D printer and an electrolarynx.” Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2019, Porto Alegre, Brazil, pp. 411–412.
[2] See for instance D. Camarillo, J. C. Ryu, and S. P. S. Sia, “Soft and stiffness-controllable robotics solutions for minimally invasive surgery: The STIFF-FLOP approach,” Minimally Invasive Therapy & Allied Technologies, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 287–297,
If you cannot attend this presentation, you can register for Patricia’s presentation at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at 12noon ET on 5 February on zoom at here
Bio: Patricia Alessandrini is a composer/sound artist creating compositions, installations, and performance situations which are most often interactive and/or theatrical. Through these intermedial formats, she actively engages with the concert music repertoire, and issues of representation, interpretation, perception, and memory. Her works are often collaborative, and engage with social and political issues.
Her works have been presented in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and over 15 European countries, in festivals such as Archipel, Ars Musica, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Electric Spring, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Gaudeamus, Mostly Mozart, Musica Strasbourg, Rainy Days, Ruhrtriennale, Salzburg Biennale, TimeSpans, Transit, Wien Modern, and Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. She is also a performer and improvisor of live electronics.
She studied composition and electronics at the Conservatorio G.B.Martini di Bologna, Conservatoire National de Strasbourg and IRCAM (Paris), and holds two PhDs, from Princeton University and the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), Queens University Belfast respectively. She has taught Computer-Assisted Composition at the Scuola superiore of the Accademia Musicale Pescarese, Composition with Technology at Bangor University, as a Lecturer in Sonic Arts at Goldsmiths College – University of London, and has taught composition and performed research at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) of Stanford University. Since 2024, she is a Professor of Artistic Research at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne, and also serves as a resident artist and professor at Le Fresnoy – National Studio for the Arts.
She has served as Principal Investigator (PI) for Stanford University for research projects Considering Disability in Online Cultural Experiences (2022-24) and Multisensory, User-centred, Shared cultural Experiences through Interactive Technology (MuseIT, 2022-25), and currently serves on the international boards of Share Music & Performing Arts, a Swedish knowledge center for inclusion, and PRISM – Centre for Practice and Research in Science and Music.
She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition in 2022 and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship from Harvard University in 2024-25, in support of her forthcoming feminist-futurist opera.
Her works are published by Babelscores, and may be consulted at patriciaalessandrini.net and patriciaalessandrini.com.
Patricia is in London at King’s for the MuseIT Consortium meeting in the River Room, Strand Campus, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS. On Wed, 29 January, from 14:00 – 16:15, there are Workshops with a coffee break 15:00-15:15. There are also demo sessions in the morning 10:15-12:45.
Evaluation of Music platform with show and tell, by ShareMusic, X-System, CTL/CERTH.
Demo of HaptiDesigner, HaptiMux, and streaming haptograms at distance.
Evaluation of VM experience, multisensory interactions by CERTH/ ACTRONIKA.
(Including live demos of audification and musical selection according to emotion from EEG data.
For the most, demos are live, but here is a zoom link: https://hb-se.zoom.us/j/64138087763
There is also an event with the MiMu gloves featuring composer Amble Skuse on Monday evening at 6:30PM (which is free but requires RSVP).
