Berlin Philharmonic - live
While everyone else on the internet is liveblogging the Apple Keynote speech at MacWorld, I thought I’d follow that example a bit by giving you updates of a slightly different nature…
Today is the first live internet-streamed concert by the Berlin Philharmonic via their new Digital Concert Hall. You can purchase a “ticket” to single live performances, or purchase a season pass, which gives access to all live concerts, as well as their archive of past concerts.
The Berliner Philharmoniker's Digital Concert Hall site
This is the future, or at the very least a component of it. Take the physical barriers of getting to a theater away, give global on-demand access via the internet, give access to a wealth of supporting content, bring people across the world together through a shared experience…
To those who wonder how this access might effect live performances… maybe it helps to think about sports broadcasts. Does that broad accessibility decrease or increase attendance of live games? Does it positively or negatively effect the spectators’ attachment to the sport? Is there is a sport you follow or enjoy? How would your connection and/or commitment to that sport be effected if you could not watch games at home, or follow them via radio, internet, etc.?
Have you had other experiences viewing something remotely that you would also attend in person (or would like to, or are at least curious about)? Met Opera broadcasts? The live 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions? Streaming conferences? Misnomer Dance Theater’s live performance via uStream for example? What was your experience?
This is still a very new area, with lots of aspects still to be worked out and discovered, but it’s very exciting to see it unfold!
jolene
Very cool! It makes the arts accessible for people who can’t go (either due to physical distance or b/c of affordability.) It would be amazing to be able to view live ballet performances that I would never see otherwise, including NYCB, Stuttgart, Royal Ballet… although I can’t even imagine what kind of nightmare the legal side of it would be, including copyright issues and revisions of dancers’ contracts.
Any thoughts on the performance itself of the Berlin Philharmonic? The Sunday program interests me a little more, but I might check out today’s performance just to see what it’s like. Is the sound high quality?
Jan 06, 2009 @ 21:59
brian
cant believe that it has taken this long to start doing live web cast.
Companies will start to catch on.
B
Jan 07, 2009 @ 00:09
Kristin Sloan
i think in general there have been (and will continue to be) concerns about putting a poor representation of an art form/product out there, and it’s taken this long for the technology to get to a point where it’s somewhat reliable and looks and sounds good. (nevermind the complications with rights and of course the cost!)
it’s really intense how quickly an audience can turn due to technical difficulties… all of a sudden something that was so great, becomes something that people are upset about.
we went to see a live simulcast of the Met’s Doctor Atomic at BAM. it happened to be in the middle of an intense rain storm, and about 20 minutes into the opera, the satellite signal was lost, showing a blank screen and an error message. it only took a matter of seconds for the audience to react negatively.
in the end all was good, someone from the cinema came out and explained the situation and the signal returned shortly, but if it had been lost for the rest of the opera, there would have been some very unhappy people.
Jan 07, 2009 @ 00:43
A Little Tea or Something
I love, love, LOVE this idea. For some time now I have wished I could go to Regal Cinemas and see live broadcasts of ABT or NYCB, or other companies, as many of my friends do for the opera. I have just assumed that this has not happened in the ballet world because of the expense of doing it, or because Regal couldn’t sell enough tickets to justify it. I would gladly pay a premium for the privilege of doing this, though.
I would also pay to see a performance online. If ABT had done this, say, for their premiere of Sleeping Beauty, I would have paid to see that, rather than rely on my NYC friends who were there opening night to tell me about it. But I would still have gone to Chicago, as I did in April, to see it myself—this would have been an interesting compare and contrast scenario, since the ballet had undergone changes in the intervening months.
So this would not stop me from seeing live ballet. I make it a point to travel several times yearly to see professional ballet companies, and I take as many of my students with me as I can; there is of course no substitute for the theatre experience.
Jan 07, 2009 @ 02:03
jennifer
i attend met at the movies regularly–while the experience isn’t anywhere near as satisfying as sitting at the met opera house–as I’ve moved from NYC, it’s my only opportunity to watch the Met Opera. And mostly, the experience has been fantastic. A particular favorite of mine was watching at the movies the Met production of “La Fille du Regiment”, starring two opera stars Natalie Dessay & Juan Diego Florez. I never would have gotten tickets for at the Met theater (very pricey & completely sold out!) so I highly enjoyed seeing their performances remotely, hearing most of their vocal talents and getting a closeup of the action onstage from my movie seat.
It’s definitely an experience–but a good one.
Jan 07, 2009 @ 02:28
Ben
The Royal Ballet did a simulticast of The Nutcracker across selected cinemas in the UK at the end of 2008!
No idea how it went, but might be worth researching.
Jan 11, 2009 @ 18:32
Patricia
Speaking of the Digital Concert Hall - check out the new youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/BerlinPhil
Apr 01, 2009 @ 14:45
kurt
I’ve just read another website will broadcast live concerts - without any audience on the spot !! Looks really nice, and Philippe Herreweghe will conduct a Renaissance mass !
Have a look on these V. Sessions : http://theVsessions.com
Apr 09, 2009 @ 17:25
Russ
Today I purchased a 2008/2009 Digital Concert Hall subscription to the Berlin Philharmonic. The outstanding quality of this service absolutely surpasses my expectations. The archive has an easy calendar format to review past concerts. Once one is selected, it is easy to watch an entire concert or individual pieces. The concert hall even allows you to review the concert program including commentaries on the pieces and the biographies of the conductor and soloists. The sound quality is crystal clear and the video will go from partial to full screen mode. When signing up for an account, customers can choose either English or German as the main language when using the site.
It seems like a natural for the Berlin Philharmonic to pioneer this new format. Back in the 1980’s, Karajan with his joie de vivre for music and fast cars pioneered the video format and built up a library of live video performances he conducted which Deutsche Grammophon and Sony released on VHS and then DVD. It now seems that the Berlin Philharmonic is taking this in-house expertise and expanding it to the internet. I love the many camera angles provided in the concerts from close ups of the conductor, soloists and individual orchestra members carrying the musical themes to front and back shots of the orchestra performing.
This is truly a marvelous service for orchestra lovers! Anyone with an interest in this format should set up a free account and then try out an individual concert. While the entire 2008/2009 season is currently EUR 89 and available for archival access through the end of August 2009, I believe individual concerts are available for about EUR 5 . The site accepts major U.S. credit cards and PayPal .
Apr 19, 2009 @ 08:20
Martin Kamminga
This initiative is a true blessing. If you don’t have the time to travel, just enjoy a perfect series of high standard performances .
One is really part of the atmosphere in this world famous concerthall.
The lately prpgrammed Sibelius symphonies and Beethoven piano concertos with Mitsuko Uchida I have closed in my heart forever.
Feb 14, 2010 @ 19:12