Re-Thinking Virtuosity for the Hybrid Era of Multifarious Approaches

Abstract

ABSTRACT Virtuosity in the twenty-first century is undergoing a transformation. Technological changes have altered the relations between artists, audience, critics and tools, requiring a redefinition of virtuosity. In recent years, these changes have caused musicians in the contemporary classical music tradition to adopt an increasingly varied set of workflows, tools and approaches, necessitating a recontextualisation of the ideas of technique and expertise. This article discusses how new music repertoire involving the use of technology relates to five new formulations of virtuosity and connects them to three brief case studies. In exploring how hybrid virtuosity, interdisciplinary virtuosity, virtuosity of adaptability, eco-systemic virtuosity, and the New Virtuosity relate to XR performance, collaboration with an AI, and inclusive co-creation between deaf and hearing artists, I question what virtuosity means in these examples and how technology is impacting the way virtuosity is transforming.