Oracle: The Dreaming Species

Oracle: The Dreaming Species is a new music project conceived and composed by Melanie Wilson, that uses artificial intelligence to explore the human connection with animals. Imagining a form of inter-species communion through the creation of a hybrid human and animal vocality, the project responds to the crisis of species extinction, and playfully broadens anthropocentric narratives of intelligence and interdependence.

As part of Sound and Music’s New Voices composer programme, Melanie has partnered with the PRiSM Lab at the Royal Northern College of Music to work with and train a neural net, using specially recorded vocals and audio from humans and animal species. The vocal responses from the neural net are then used to inform the development of the score. In February 2022, Melanie will come together with an ensemble of 8 singers in Manchester to test first drafts of the music, culminating in a sharing of a vocal work with an electronic score.

Oracle: The Dreaming Species is commissioned, produced and presented by Fuel, in partnership with PRiSM, and supported by Sound and Music and Arts Council England. Sound and Music’s New Voices 2020/21 is funded by Arts Council England, PRS Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation.