Playing with Fire—An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang

A mixed-reality concert you can step inside

Pianist Yuja Wang’s mixed-reality concert experience Playing with Fire set critics and audiences ablaze upon its premiere at the Philharmonie de Paris in November 2025. It is directed by Pierre-Alain Giraud, winner of the award for Best Immersive Work at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The experience begins with augmented reality and transforms into virtual reality, before bringing audiences back to the real world. At its heart is the Steinway Spirio, the world’s finest high-resolution player piano, capturing the nuance, power and passion of a live performance straight from the instrument, even though Yuja herself won’t be on stage in person.

Putting on a VR headset reveals a lifelike holographic image of the pianist, performing within a 360-degree visual world of surrealist fire, water and organic forms, created by Icelandic artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, with spatial audio by Academy Award-winning sound designer Nicolas Becker. Free to observe the virtuoso up close and wander through the unfolding scenery, you discover a perspective no concert seat can offer.

With a repertoire spanning Bach, Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky and Prokofiev, the programme traces the arc of fire—from spark to blaze and warm afterglow.