Multimedia Opera Production

From March 29 till April 1, 2007, NYU presented four performances of Mozart's opera, "Magic Flute" featuring the school's talented vocalists and instrumentalists. I attended the last performance and sat in the first row of the Loewe Theatre.

The production was innovative in that the singers sang while looking at the conductor through a monitor that was set in the middle of the theatre. There was no orchestra pit, so the orchestra was placed in the back of the stage behind the stage setting, completely invisible from the audience. I was surprised to learn later that there was a slight delay in the video and the singers needed to adjust their entrances accordingly. During the performance I was not aware of it. The singers must have practiced with the delay so that they knew how soon they had to start and end their phrases.

The production inspired me in terms of incorporating technology directly into the performance. In the same setting, the orchestra can be playing in another site. I would love to see some collaborations between vocalists and orchestras from different parts of the world using I2 connection. The Met singers with Vienna Philharmonic, Kirov Opera singers with NY Philharmonic, etc....all performing live from their hometowns!