Creative Team

Composer

PAOLA PRESTINI

Librettist

BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY

Co-Director

JAY SCHEIB

Co-Director

JERRON HERMAN

Music Director

ELIZABETH ASKREN

Technology

NYU ABILITY LAB

Produced by VisionIntoArt in association with Beth Morrison Projects

PAOLA PRESTINI

BRENDA SHAUGHNESSY

JAY SCHEIB

JERRON HERMAN

About

Sensorium Ex is an ambitious new opera by librettist Brenda Shaughnessy and acclaimed composer Paola Prestini, co-directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, that synthesizes artificial intelligence, disability, and the arts in a groundbreaking and innovative artistic work. 

The visionary production pushes the boundaries of what it means to have a voice, paving the way for future artists with disabilities. Sensorium Ex delves deep into the essence of voice, transcending the limits of language to profoundly reimagine what it can be. 

Operating at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), disability, and the arts, Sensorium Ex explores the fundamental question of what it means to have voice, and the nature of voice beyond language. Internationally-acclaimed composer Paola Prestini’s expansive, multi-modal work tells a dystopian tale centered on a mother and her son, a nonverbal, nonambulatory child with multiple disabilities, as they resist a villainous corporate entity’s attempts to destroy what it means to be human.

Blurring the lines between art and technology, the opera will feature a new set of AI tools developed in partnership with NYU’s Ability Lab that will expand the possibilities for voice and expression in people with disordered, impaired, or limited speech. With a cast of predominantly disabled performers, the project seeks to devise new artistic practices which center disability equity and access throughout all steps in the process. Sensorium Ex is composed by Paola Prestini, co-produced by VisionIntoArt and Beth Morrison Projects, directed by Jerron Herman and Jay Scheib, and features a libretto by poet Brenda Shaughnessy. Premiering for the first time at Common Senses Festival 2025, Sensorium Ex creates an entirely new operatic world – one that redefines who gets to have a voice.

Sen-so-rium refers to:
1. The  parts  of  the  brain  or  the  mind  concerned  with  the  reception  and  interpretation  of  sensory  stimuli;  broadly:  the  entire  sensory  apparatus.
2. Constantly  changing  realm  of  the  senses

 

Support

Commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and Atlanta Opera. Developed by VisionIntoArt in association with Beth Morrison Projects. Produced by the Atlanta Opera in association with Beth Morrison Projects.

Press

"The kind of experimentation Prestini has lent to her work will help “shape what masterpieces come out of the next 50 years.”

The Los Angeles Times

“…Prestini’s music [is] vividly shimmering and raging with the emotional temperatures of characters [...] and generally conjuring up an authentically cosmic atmosphere with its trembling strings, ethereal wind lines, and luminous glockenspiel.”

VAN Magazine ​

"In this as in all of her work, Prestini shows a strong compositional voice and an arresting focus in her writing: vigorous melodic lines grab the listener, supported by tart harmonies. At this point, she has to be considered a major talent.”

New York Classical Review

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