A hologram of soprano Maria Callas performs with an orchestra.
In Sunday’s (12/17) Conversation (Waltham, MA), Shelley Brunt writes, “I was recently among a curious Melbourne audience who turned out to see a hologram of the long-dead soprano Maria Callas singing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The stage was moodily lit, with 30 musicians in shadows…. When she eventually appeared center stage, the audience gasped…. She and conductor Daniel Schlosberg played out a manufactured exchange of acknowledgement. The Callas hits were performed … While the live orchestral sounds filled Hamer Hall, the vocals were clearly directed from the speakers, rather than the hologram at center stage. I felt an uncomfortable silence lingering before and after each song…. Those seated around me did not seem to share my concerns. A version of Callas—the woman known as La Divina, ‘the divine one’—had been digitally resurrected, and that was enough for now…. Callas in Concert has been performed across the world since 2018. Tupac performed beyond the grave at Coachella in 2012. Elvis Presley duetted posthumously with Celine Dion … A hologram of the beloved Taiwanese superstar Teresa Teng recently toured Asia. Artists who are still living are also creating hologram concerts…. Judging from the appreciative crowd at the Callas concert, the thrill of seeing La Divina again overrides any human concerns.”
