The pioneering mixed-reality installation PLAYING WITH FIRE: AN IMMERSIVE ODYSSEY with Yuja Wang offers audiences a bold reimagining of the classical concert experience. Using a combination of live recital, visual art, mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies, and spatialised sound, the experience pushes the boundaries of musical performance and conjures a fascinating dialogue between the physical and virtual realms.
Cover: View of the PLAYING WITH FIRE installation (3D sketch) © Graphics with AI / Clément Deneux
The multi-user, location-based experience (LBE) premieres 14 November 2025, at Musée de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris, demonstrating the power of immersive mediums to facilitate new kinds of interactive, multisensory experiences for audiences to share collectively. On view through 4 May 2026, PLAYING WITH FIRE is written and directed by acclaimed film and immersive director Pierre-Alain Giraud (winner of the Best Immersive Work Award at Cannes 2024) and produced by VIVE Arts, the global arts and technology initiative that supports artistic experimentation with nascent technologies, and Atlas V, award-winning immersive and narrative-driven production company, in collaboration with production partner Lightroom, a London-based home for spectacular immersive shows from the world’s leading creative minds.
To bring the project to life, Yuja Wang collaborated with an artistic team including Pierre-Alain Giraud and Icelandic visual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir – longtime creative partners whose work has been presented at the Venice Biennale, Lyon Biennale, and Frieze Art Fair – as well as Academy Award-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker. The experience was created using 360-degree volumetric video capture and recordings of Yuja’s playing and voice, combined with advanced spatial audio, surrealistic animated visuals and the cutting edge of MR immersion using VIVE Focus Vision headsets.
As a performer, I am constantly seeking new ways to connect emotionally and creatively with audiences through music. In this vein, I am immensely curious about the evolution and potential of technology: how it changes our daily lives, enables new forms of art, and can push the boundaries of how we experience music. I have found so much inspiration from joining forces previously with artists like the legendary David Hockney and now collaborating with the talented creatives and technologists behind this project. To be able to marry art and technology with this new immersive installation is really a dream come true.
Yuja Wang
Pierre-Alain Giraud said: “Working with Yuja Wang has been both an honor and a joy. She shatters all preconceptions about classical music and embodies everything that the greatest music can be – vibrant, bold, universal. Through PLAYING WITH FIRE, we create an experience that matches her spirit: using cutting-edge technology not as a gimmick, but as a way to reveal how each piece connects to our universal human stories. This project extends my 15-year collaboration with Icelandic artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, whose surrealist paintings of fire, water and organic forms provide the perfect visual language for our journey, combining mixed reality with the physical presence of a Steinway piano and Yuja’s extraordinary performance.”
PLAYING WITH FIRE introduces audiences to an intimate virtual rehearsal and concert by Yuja Wang, inviting guests to first observe her backstage preparations by wearing the headset as an “invisibility cloak”, and then to witness the physical and mental act of performance through repertoire personally selected by Yuja ranging from Bach and Chopin to Debussy, Prokofiev and Stravinsky, accompanied by the transformative images and musical worlds conjured by Yuja’s playing created by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir. At the center of the space, both real and virtual, is a Steinway Spirio concert grand piano, which acts as the bridge between the concert hall and the artist’s inner visions. The Spirio system – an advanced self-playing technology that can precisely record and reproduce the keystrokes of live performances – recreates Yuja’s virtuosity on the physical instrument in real time, synchronised with the holographic fingers of her virtual self.
Seamlessly shifting between MR and VR depending on the participants’ positions and different phases of the experience, PLAYING WITH FIRE offers viewers unprecedented closeness – both sensory and emotional – to the musical performance. Audience members can move freely throughout the space, observing Yuja’s gestures, concentration and the way music comes to life under her fingers. As participants move closer to the piano and to the bulbs, they enter an immersive audio zone where they can hear Yuja’s thoughts, her comments on the music, fragments of poetry connected with the repertoire, the beating of her heart and her soft humming along with the melody. This experience creates the illusion of being inside Yuja’s mind, allowing a deep appreciation of her personal connection to the music and the intensity of musical interpretation.
The repertoire and accompanying visual landscape of PLAYING WITH FIRE explore the many facets of fire as the spark of human imagination – from the divine, transcendent light of Bach to the primordial, revolutionary blaze of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, illuminated by the works of great poets and painters – showcasing the expression of creativity through art and the power of music to capture the essence of the human experience. The repertoire is carefully selected to take audiences through a journey of human creativity and expression, with each piece and landscape representing a pivotal moment in humanity’s artistic and emotional development.
This grand narrative is intertwined with the personal story of Yuja Wang. Through her commentary, anecdotes and musical choices, audiences discover her evolution as an artist and her intimate relationship with music. From childhood memories to her deep connection with composers like Chopin and Stravinsky, each piece becomes a window into Yuja’s world, and her path from a young pianist in China to a world-renowned virtuoso becomes a reflection of the universal quest for artistic excellence. By sharing her thoughts and emotions as she plays, Yuja invites audiences into her mind, allowing them to experience music not merely as passive listeners but as active participants in her creative process.
Celina Yeh, Executive Director of VIVE Arts, said, “VIVE Arts’ mission is to support groundbreaking projects where immersive technologies open new dimensions of artistic engagement. PLAYING WITH FIRE not only showcases technical innovation, but channels it into a powerful, intimate encounter with the creative process of one of the world’s most prodigious performers. Yuja’s expressive range, unparalleled technical virtuosity and electrifying stage presence make her the ideal artist for this kind of exploration, where performance, spatial computing, immersive sound and lush visual storytelling converge to allow audiences to experience music viscerally as it’s felt from the inside out, expanding the possibilities of how we engage with performance.”
PLAYING WITH FIRE is the latest in a series of Paris-based initiatives from VIVE Arts, including VERSAILLES: LOST GARDENS OF THE SUN KING, on view now through 4 January 2026, and LA MAGIE OPERA, the inaugural production in an ongoing partnership with the Paris Opera, on view through 31 August 2025.
PLAYING WITH FIRE is a bold fusion of visionary creativity and cutting-edge technology, uniting some of the most inspiring voices in digital art and music. Driven by advanced interactive mixed reality, this immersive experience takes audiences on a deeply emotional and sensory journey – where music becomes a living, breathing force. With original spatial design that fully surrounds the listener, PLAYING WITH FIRE transforms music from a background element into the beating heart of the story, setting a new standard for immersive art and entertainment.
Antoine Cayrol, CEO of Atlas V
Yuja Wang does us the great pleasure of returning to the Philharmonie de Paris every season. This exhibition offers a new way to experience her music – through an immersive and sensory approach that brings us closer to her performance than a traditional concert ever could, even in a chamber music setting. With VIVE Arts and Atlas V, we are presenting a visual and sound creation that captures the energy and brilliance of Yuja Wang’s playing, and offers a new perspective on the concert experience. We thank them, along with all our partners, for making this opportunity possible.
Olivier Mantei, Managing Director of Philharmonie de Paris
PLAYING WITH FIRE: AN IMMERSIVE ODYSSEY with Yuja Wang
- Musée de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris From 14 November 2025 to 4 May 2026
- Produced by VIVE Arts and Atlas V, with production partner Lightroom
- Creative team: Yuja Wang, lead artist; Pierre-Alain Giraud, writer, director & visual director; Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, visual director & original artwork; Nicolas Becker, sound designer; Philippe Berthomé, lighting designer; Laurence Fontaine, installation designer
- Technical team: Studio Albyon
- Yuja Wang appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft.
- A 50-minute immersive installation
- Recommended for ages 13 and up
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