Former Korean minister uses AI to compose music for Shakespeare sonnets

Yong Ho-seong, a former vice minister of culture, sports and tourism in South Korea, released a debut album titled Fragile Beauty.

He performed the music under the stage name Dr. Dragon. The album features 15 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which Yong transformed into contemporary music using artificial intelligence for both the compositions and the vocals.

Yong started the project after receiving a gift of Shakespeare's complete sonnets from a British friend while he worked as the director of the Korean Cultural Centre UK. He aims to complete a project called DiVerse, which intends to set all 154 of the poet's sonnets to modern music. Yong adapted the themes of the original verses to help modern audiences connect with the centuries-old text.