NOW OPEN: Mixed-Reality Installation Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang at Philharmonie de Paris
Blending live performance, storytelling, and technology, Playing with Fire offers unprecedented access to Yuja Wang; Travelling to the Southbank Centre in 2026
PARIS, ÎLE-DE-FRANCE, FRANCE, November 14, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A bold reimagining of the classical concert experience makes its world premiere at Musée de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris. The pioneering immersive installation "Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang" is an innovative combination of live piano performance, visual art, mixed reality, and spatialised sound, pushing the boundaries of musical performance and conjuring a fascinating dialogue between the realms that explore the relationship between sound and image, as well as the interplay between music, poetry and art. The multi-user, location-based experience is open to visitors through 3 May 2026, before touring internationally to Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in February 2026 and to London’s Southbank Centre in fall 2026, with further venues to be announced.
Written and directed by film and immersive director Pierre-Alain Giraud (winner of the Best Immersive Work Award; Cannes 2024), the project is produced by VIVE Arts, the global 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.
Yuja Wang collaborated with an artistic team including Pierre-Alain Giraud, Icelandic visual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, and 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 immersive technologies using VIVE Focus Vision headsets.
About the Experience
"Playing with Fire" introduces audiences to an intimate virtual performance by Yuja Wang, inviting viewers to witness the physical and mental act of performance through repertoire personally selected by Yuja, ranging from Bach to Stravinsky. From this repertoire, writer and director Pierre-Alain Giraud, in collaboration with artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, has crafted a narrative and designed moving visual worlds.
At the center of the space, both real and virtual, is a Steinway & Sons Spirio concert grand piano which recreates Yuja’s virtuosity on the physical instrument in real time, synchronised with the holographic fingers of her virtual self.
Seamlessly shifting between mixed reality and virtual reality depending on the participants’ positions and different phases of the experience, "Playing with Fire" offers viewers unprecedented closeness 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. Throughout the gallery, Murano glass “light bulbs” designed by the acclaimed lighting designer Philippe Berthome are physically suspended and recreated in the virtual experience. As participants move closer to the piano and to the bulbs, they enter an audio zone where they can hear fragments of poetry connected with the repertoire.
The repertoire and accompanying visual landscape of "Playing with Fire" explore the many facets of fire as the spark of human imagination, showcasing the expression of creativity through art and the power of music to capture the essence of the human experience.
Through her musical choices, audiences discover Yuja’s evolution as an artist and her intimate relationship with music. From childhood memories to her deep connection with composers like Chopin, 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. 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.
About Yuja Wang
Pianist Yuja Wang is celebrated for her charismatic artistry, emotional honesty and captivating stage presence. She has performed with the world’s most venerated conductors, musicians and ensembles, and is renowned not only for her virtuosity, but her spontaneous and lively performances, famously telling the New York Times “I firmly believe every program should have its own life, and be a representation of how I feel at the moment.”
Yuja was born into a musical family and began studying the piano at the age of six. She received advanced training in Canada and at the Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman. Her international breakthrough came in 2007, when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and has since established her place among the world’s leading artists, with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and albums. Her recordings have garnered multiple awards, including five Grammy nominations and her first Grammy win for Best Classical Instrumental Solo with her 2023 release of “The American Project.” For this she also won an Opus Klassik award in the Concerto category.
Production Information
"Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang"
Musée de la musique – Philharmonie de Paris until 3 May 2026
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai, February, 2026
Southbank Centre, London from 11 September to 13 December 2026
Produced by: VIVE Arts and Atlas V, in collaboration with production partner Lightroom
Creative team: Yuja Wang, performer; Pierre-Alain Giraud, writer, director & creative director; Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, creative director & original artwork; Arthur Maugendre, art director; Nicolas Becker & Antoine Martin, sound designers; Sylvain Hayot, lead developer; Laurence Fontaine, scenographer; Philippe Berthomé, lighting designer
Technical team: Studio Albyon
Supported by: Steinway & Sons
With support from: the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée) and Maison Francis Kurkdjian
Yuja Wang appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft
Admission & Ticketing Information
Recommended for ages 13 and up.
Book online: https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/activite/installation/28823-playing-fire.
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