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Commission of Hallucinations for Soprano and Piano by Mara Campbell
Soprano Mara Campbell commissioned Kyle Vanderburg’s *Hallucinations*, a song cycle using texts generated by deliberately forcing ChatGPT toward statistically unlikely language and unexpected poetic results.
Overview
Soprano Mara Campbell commissioned Kyle Vanderburg to compose *Hallucinations*, a song cycle for soprano and piano exploring generative artificial intelligence as a source of poetic text. The work uses texts created through a “forced hallucination” process with ChatGPT, repeatedly constraining the language model to produce statistically unlikely word choices. The resulting cycle transforms these machine-generated texts into vocal music, examining the unexpected, surreal, and sometimes expressive results that emerge when generative systems are deliberately pushed away from probable language.
Professional Context
This commission initiated a substantial creative project connecting Vanderburg’s work in vocal composition with emerging questions surrounding artificial intelligence and human creativity. Commissioned by soprano Mara Campbell, *Hallucinations* uses texts produced through a deliberately constrained “forced hallucination” process with ChatGPT, treating generative AI not as an autonomous composer but as source material shaped by a human-designed creative process. The commission subsequently provided the foundation for further performance, recording, and externally recognized creative activity associated with the work.