On May 13, 2008, the Asimo robot conducted the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra. This robot with humanoid features demonstrates the
remarkable technical capabilities of our time. The goal of Asimo’s presence is
to help with the musical training of youth in the region.
However, Asimo is in no way expected to compete with real orchestra conductors
because technical capabilities will never be able to draw out the artistic
dimension of a musical work.
In fact, it can be said of a musical interpretation that touches the public’s
soul that it was a virtuosic performance. According to its etymology, the word
“virtuoso” means “to do good.” To be a virtuoso is therefore the result of a
constant, lasting effort to raise one’s consciousness.
Technique alone does not confer beauty to a work. For there to be beauty, there
must be a virtuoso, a master, a conductor—in short, a complete artist who serves
as an intermediary between the spiritual world, the world of archetypes, and the
objective world.
If technique is connected to reason, art is a language for the soul. The perfect
combination of technique and art brings the spiritual rapture universally
admired as a “masterpiece.”
