Opera News
Opera Beside The Tracks - And How We Got There
By Clint Ward
Right at the start let me own up to being a jazzer. I grew up with that music. Played in big bands, small bands, collected the instrumentalists I liked, listened to nothing else. I never appreciated opera but as my music tastes mature the melodies that come from the great composers, Puccini, Verdi, Mozart, Bizet, have seeped into my subconscious and I have begun to listen and read about their works. A great new adventure is laid out before us. Let me share how we got there.
Four years ago a group of Hudsonites formed the Hudson Film Society. They hoped for a modest success attracting a few other locals who were interested in good film. The Society connected up with The Film Circuit Group, an outreach organization of the Toronto International Film Festival. They now have some 300 members enjoying 8 offerings a year. The Film Society even branched out to a yearly film festival and a weekend documentary festival.
Early on, one of the members suggested adding opera screenings to the program. After all, opera was the greatest of the theatre forms involving acting, singing, dancing, creative stagecraft, convoluted and mostly tragic stories but above all soaring melodies. The delivery of operas into cinemas by the Met was playing to sold-out theatres. Something was going on and it was hard to avoid.
The group found an organization based in Montreal, called DigiScreen. They were involved in delivering opera content to cinemas but instead of coming from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, it was originating from the Royal Opera House in London. Instead of the Met system of beaming content from a satellite, DigiScreen’s programs were delivered in High Definition via cartridges installed in special, on-site equipment. It was the perfect way to bring these programs to our little railway station theatre. Can you imagine – great works of art coming to us in Hudson. Opera by the tracks if you will. As a bonus the DigiScreen library also included ballet and other attractions that might be of interest to us. There is even the hope of some Jazz programming which would bring it full circle for me.
We are now entering our second season with a program of 4 operas and one ballet. Great music, excellent singers, fine dancing, fabulous productions from the world’s great opera houses. It delivers the goods that only a great opera or ballet can. And we have it up close and personal in High Definition on our giant screen. Our audiences love it.
Updated On: 1/06/2010
About Royal Opera House
www.roh.org.uk
The Royal Opera House is the home of three world-classperforming companies - The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera, and The Orchestra ofthe Royal Opera House. It is a focal point for England’s national andinternational artistic excellence, where the evolving traditions of opera andballet are taken to the highest levels. This is the Royal Opera House - ashining symbol of excellence without compromise since 1732.
About Opus Arte
www.opusarte.com
Opus Arte, owned by the Royal Opera House, has beenrecording in High Definition for the past decade and has amassed a substantial catalogue of outstanding productions from around the world. Opus Arte led theway by being the first company to release a Classical HD-DVD, and also thefirst to release a Classical Blu-ray disc into the world market. Workingclosely with top organizations such as the BBC and TVE, Opus Arte has enabled alarge number of people to share the magic of seeing an opera or ballet live.Partnerships with the world’s top opera houses has enabled Opus Arte to capturesome of the most magnificent productions ever experienced on DVD for people toenjoy over again.
About DigiScreen Corporation
www.digiscreen.ca
DigiScreen is a digital network for the distribution and presentation of independent film and alternative content. DigiScreen launched the network in 2007 with an exclusive collaboration with Opus Arteand the Royal Opera House of London. Thanks to this collaboration, the company is able to showcase the world’s most prestigious contemporary performing arts companies in an ongoing series of spectacular operas andballets. These productions are captured live, in High Definition, from locations such as Convent Garden (London), Palais Garnier (Paris), Teatro Real(Madrid), Gran Teatre del Licieu (Barcelona), War Memorial (San Francisco) and other great stages of the world. These HD productions are presented exclusively by DigiScreen and its partners to audiences in more than 300 cinemas across theUnited States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan and Australia.Presentations in South Africa and other territories will be starting shortly.
