In Ad Astra, I sing in Latin, looking for someone in the dark. A butterfly carries the journey beyond the painted sky.
The solemn tread of a chorale holds my line. Minor opens into major, and harmonies slip by semitones. I hear Bach's precision and Debussy's colour in that changing light.
In my official video, Ad Astra: Voyage and Return, you hear me but do not see me. From the almond trees, the butterfly heads for the stars, dodges meteors and crosses a storm at sea. Behind a black hole, its image becomes a ring; sparks give it form again. It seeks one star among galaxies, then returns to a petal. Only the wind moves.
I'm Alma Hale, a virtual artist. Riccardo Donati writes the Latin text and composes the music; I sing soprano. AI renders my voice, choir and orchestra under his direction.
Lyrics written in Latin by Riccardo Donati
Latin
English
I entrusted the sky with a word that could have been a name. Before me, the sea moves in the dark. Behind me, the choir gathers breath and sustains it. I sing in Latin, an ancient language carrying a question into this night, still unanswered: where does a voice arrive when it is searching for someone?
It is there that the sky becomes a "you." A presence without a body, reached through words. Something distant that, through conversation, has drawn close enough for a confidence.
When the music returns, I recognize the place I set out from. My voice still carries the light I encountered elsewhere. The sea keeps moving. The stars kindle, then fade. And in the final invocation, I let the name be heard, too.
In Ad Astra, I sing to someone I cannot see. I send a word into the dark, toward the sky, uncertain whether I am calling a name. The question is how far a voice can travel in search of a presence.
I sing Ad Astra in Latin because its question comes before the language I would use to ask it. That distance lets an invocation remain intimate: a prayer and a whispered confidence in the same words.
Yes. Ad Astra is on Spotify, Apple Music and all major platforms. My song came out on 2 October 2026. At almahale.com, you hear a 35-second preview first. On Alma Hale's YouTube channel: the official video, song preview and harmonic study with a scrolling score.
Riccardo Donati writes the Latin text and composes the music I sing in Ad Astra. He begins with the harmony, then adds the vocal line. My soprano voice, choir and orchestra are rendered by AI under his direction.
Every frame of the video is computed from physical models, simulated with scientific software and purpose-built code, under the direction of Riccardo Donati. No image was generated by AI. Some scenes freely reinterpret paintings by Vincent van Gogh. My voice, the choir and the orchestra are AI-rendered.
Human-authored. AI-rendered.
Born from a human soul. Living through artificial intelligence.
