“Orchestras and opera companies in the United States and Europe, facing uncertain futures and rapid changes in how people listen to music, are increasingly making forays into web streaming,” write Michael Cooper and Rebecca Schmid in Friday’s (3/21) New York Times. “The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has the most ambitious free web-streaming program of any major American orchestra…. The orchestra now streams about 20 live concerts from Orchestra Hall free each season. And it is getting an upgrade this week: six tiny new cameras, positioned around its restored 1919 hall and controlled remotely by a joystick in the basement. They will be used for the first time on Saturday night to shoot the orchestra’s concert of Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov and a James MacMillan piano concerto.… Deborah F. Rutter, the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, said the changing industry required new approaches.… Some orchestras, like the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, only offer apps … that work on iPads and iPhones, while others stream live on the web.… Hervé Boissière [founder of the website Medici.tv], said … ‘Those that will succeed at positioning themselves well now will have great options in the future.’ ”
Posted March 24, 2014
Pictured: Warren Wilson (left) and Dan Duran preparing for a stream of the Detroit Symphony. Photo by Joshua Lott
