A Multimedia Opera

Ask Ada is a multimedia opera composed by Yannis Kyriakides, with real-time generative visuals by Darien Brito. The work takes Ada Lovelace as its subject — mathematician, visionary, and daughter of Lord Byron — widely credited with writing the first computer algorithm in 1843. Running 45 minutes, the piece unfolds for solo voice, six instruments (violin, viola, cello, harp, piano, percussion), electronics, and live video, with a libretto by Theodora Delavault drawing on Lovelace's correspondence with Charles Babbage, her annotations on his Analytical Engine, and the particular tension of her life: a woman who pursued mathematics with fierce dedication in an era that required her to do so quietly.

Collaboration

Kyriakides gives voice to this unique historical figure through a work of multimedia music theatre that showcases and draws on the implications of her pioneering scientific research. Brito created the visual layer entirely in real time, building a cueing system to synchronise generative imagery with audio events across scenes — the code and the score locked in step, each performance a live computation.

Odes to Byron

Ask Ada was part of Odes to Byron, a cycle curated by composer Alexandros Mouzas as a tribute to the emblematic Romantic poet and philhellene Lord Byron. The work was commissioned by the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage and filmed there in June 2021, made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

The production brings together an unusual convergence: contemporary music theatre, the history of computing, and generative code — Ada Lovelace viewed not only as a historical figure but as a kind of origin point for the very tools used to stage her story.

In depth

You can read here a detailed introduction to the work by librettist Theodora Delavault.