Live Streaming Opera

www.operaliege.be 

For many years, people have had the opportunity to listen to performances of operas on the radio, which is great for people who don’t have the time or money to go see the performance live,  but it doesn’t have the same effect as watching the show in it’s entirety, and I think that may have turned people off from the opera. But now people can watch live high-definition broadcasts of these shows.  According  to James Steichen in an article from the UOPblog which is the Oxford University Press, the Metropolitan Opera offers “live cinema broadcasts of its Saturday matinee performances to a network of movie theaters around the country. For many decades the Met had offered such access to radio listeners, but now audiences far from New York could both see and hear their favorite Met stars from their local cineplex, for only about $20 a ticket,” making it much easier and cheaper to see an opera.

Now, after eight years of the live streaming operas, “the Met “Live in HD” has indeed emerged as the most successful initiative of the tenure of General Manager Peter Gelb, whose main goal has been to make opera a more popular and accessible art form.”  The Met operas are being shown in almost 2,000 movie theater in over 60 countries and has proven to be a huge success. Also, the Met isn’t the only opera house that utilizes this technology.  Many others use it as well and so do many universities who broadcast their recitals, concerts, and operas.  Having this technology has been very helpful for attracting audience to this art form because is very convenient and inexpensive.

Further Research: How have people's preferences for entertainment changed?