Huawei Presents the Incredible Sound of the Northern Lights, a World-First in AI

To celebrate the launch of the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro, a unique showcase of its powerful AI capabilities came to life yesterday in the Brahms Hall Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. The Sound of Light symphony connected technology and art to transform one of the world’s most beautiful phenomena into something completely new, bringing to life the ‘sounds’ of the Northern Lights for 300 spectators.

A months-long collaboration, Sound of Light tested the limits of how AI can be taught to read images and create new pieces of sound. Using images captured in Norway by Aurora chaser, Kjetil Skogli, a custom-built AI system running on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro was used to recognize their key features and turn them into music elements which were incorporated into a symphony by award-winning composer Mark Sayfritz.

Once composed, the musical pieces were shared with James Shearman, one of the world’s best conductors and composers, who arranged them for an orchestral performance of the Sound of Light symphony, to be performed in Brahms Hall by the Synchron Stage Orchestra. The entire journey used the AI capabilities of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro as the inspiration for pushing the boundaries of expectations.

“For Sound of Light I aim to amplify and enhance the emotion of this particular performance, so it feels as if the Northern Lights and the AI are talking to us through music,” said James Shearman, arranger and conductor for Sound of Light.

Making it possible – the Huawei Mate 20 Pro’s role in Sound of Light

For Sound of Light to be realized, it required a powerful device. The Huawei Mate 20 Pro proved the perfect collaborator, with the project using many features of the device to support the custom-built AI system and the overall project’s success. Where high-end computers would be used for the intensive processing required to create the musical elements, the support of the custom-built AI system allowed the team to transform the Mate 20 Pro into a next-generation computer.

“AI has for long been a priority in Huawei’s R&D efforts. Like many momentous technologies before us, AI lets us surpass our limitations – makes it possible to achieve feats once thought beyond our reach. The Sound of Light accurately captures this idea,” said Mr. Wang Yanmin, President of CEE & Nordic Region, Huawei Consumer Business Group.

About Huawei Consumer BG
Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries and are used by a third of the world’s population. Fourteen R&D centers have been set up in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Russia, India and China. Huawei Consumer BG is one of Huawei’s three business units and covers smartphones, PC and tablets, wearables and cloud services, etc. Huawei’s global network is built on almost 30 years of expertise in the telecom industry and is dedicated to delivering the latest technological advances to consumers around the world.

For more information please visit: https://consumer.huawei.com/en/

For regular updates on Huawei Consumer BG, follow us on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huaweimobile/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HuaweiMobile
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huaweimobile/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/HuaweiDeviceCo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10617746/

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181129005098/en/

Contact information

Racepoint Global
Mark Fowler
huawei@racepointglobal.com