The Ultimate Question
opera by R. Sagdiev
  • Dmitry Otyakovsky
    stage director
    Andrey Popov, Artistic Director of the Volga Opera Theater, invited me and the composer Rustam Sagdiev to do some kind of WOW project. And we came up with a digital space opera about what kind of relationship humanity and other forms of life will have with artificial intelligence in the not too distant future.

    The main character of the opera is Deep Thought Al, an intergalactic artificial intelligence busy searching for the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. The episodes are performed in nine languages — Russian, Chuvash, English, Italian, German, French, Japanese, quasi-Slavic and Sanskrit.

    The plot of the opera includes references to philosophical works, computer games, anime and popular works of science fiction by leading science fiction authors. Here Isaac Asimov, the Strugatsky brothers and, of course, the main reference is Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Cast:
Scientist Senior Engineer — Ivan Nikolaev Maxim Karsakov
Eco-activist — Tatiana Prytchenkova, Tatiana Toibakhtina
Mrs. General — Lyudmila Yakovleva, Olga Vildyaeva
Chairman — Dmitry Syomkin, Ivan Snigirev
Priest, Authority — Konstantin Moskalev, Vladislav Leukhin
Cyber Akita Neko, Argo — Margarita Finogentova, Vasilisa Savkina
Laureate, Junior Engineer — Ilya Guriev
Presenter — Sofia Volkova, Alisa Shalginova
Presenter, Neural Network — Dmitry Alekseev, Mefodiy Galkin
Artist — Elena Sokolova
First expert, First nominee — Andrey Belov
Second expert, Second nominee — Pavel Zelenev
Third expert, Third nominee — Alexey Stepanov

Credits:
Composer — Rustam Sagdiyev
Author of idea — Andrey Popov
Digital content — Ilya Semenov
Sound synthesis — Vladimir Yuferova
Ballet master — Danil Salimbaev
Stage director — Dmitry Otyakovsky

The premiere took place on November 24, 2023 at the Chuvash State Opera and Ballet Theatre Volga Opera
Made on
Tilda