Think opera's old-fashioned? Could arias with virtual reality and 360-degree cameras be on the horizon? - The San Diego Union-Tribune

In 1597, the world’s archetypal opera was performed successful Florence, Italy. More than 400 years later, the venerable creation signifier is inactive being presented successful mostly the aforesaid form, with the world’s best-trained singers and symphony musicians performing without amplification successful ample theatrical halls.

And therein lies the problem. Opera is the world’s astir costly creation signifier to produce, but its assemblage is aging and declining. Can opera successful the 21st period chopped its costs and grow its assemblage by embracing caller ideas and technology?

Answering that question has been the extremity of Opera Hack, an “ideation summit” created by San Diego Opera successful 2019.

On Nov. 8, San Diego Opera announced the winners of its 3rd Opera Hack contest. Three ideas created by experts from the arts and exertion industries won $5,000 grants to proceed processing their ideas. These winning concepts could someday pb to opera productions featuring exertion utilized successful role-playing and virtual world video games, arsenic good arsenic the motion-capture techniques utilized successful movies.

Opera Hack 3.0 attracted participants from the U.S., Australia, England, Italy, Canada, Scotland, Lithuania and the Netherlands. Here’s a look astatine the 3 winning projects:

Baroque Reality: Accessible Augmented Reality Stagecraft

The Baroque Reality team, which includes 3 opera singers, aims to nutrient an abridged and female-centric mentation of Handel’s 1735 baroque opera “Alcina” that would usage some mixed and augmented world exertion to heighten storytelling. Audience members watching an opera onstage could amplify their acquisition done the usage of exertion accessed connected a array oregon cellphone. Audiences could usage their instrumentality to spot virtual scenery and work real-time quality backstories during the performance. Body-tracking exertion could besides let assemblage members to spot the opera from the position of the performers’ integer avatars. At the bosom of the exertion is UnReal Engine, a fashionable gaming level that creates real-time three-dimensional video. The project’s originative squad includes vocalist and bundle developer Esha Datta, vocalist and teacher Lindsey Blackhurst, vocalist and dependable prof Mitchell Hutchings and composer and signifier manager Sarah Hutchings.

Metropolis 3.0

Composer Luciana Perc and librettist Jacqueline Goldfinger’s caller opera, “Metropolis 3.0,” is adapted from “Metropolis,” Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist movie astir a clash betwixt the affluent and mediocre successful a futuristic nine wherever robots are being built to regenerate quality workers. In this mentation of “Metropolis” astir 100 years aft the merchandise of Lang’s film, robots are present progressively utilized for labour successful a satellite wracked by clime change, planetary inequity and poverty. The opera volition diagnostic technological tools that see question capture, augmented reality, accumulation mapping, question tracking and unrecorded video. Other members of the “Metropolis 3.0" originative squad are developer-director Eddie DeHais, method developer Ian Garrett, decorator Yelena Babinskaya, dramaturge Megan Cooper and vocalist Alejandra Martinez.

PO(pera)V

Mechanical technologist Nam Nguyen’s immersive performance-capture conception would let assemblage members to ticker an opera from aggregate perspectives, ranging from a technology-free presumption from their spot successful the auditorium to the perspectives of what the singers are seeing from the stage. This would beryllium accomplished by utilizing 360-degree cameras that are hidden successful the signifier scenery and successful customized helmets worn by the performers. Audience members could alteration their constituent of presumption astatine immoderate clip during the show by utilizing a cellphone oregon tablet.

San Diego Opera volition soon denote plans for its 4th Opera Hack. The programme is made imaginable by an innovation assistance from Opera America supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.

Some of the winning projects from past Opera Hacks utilized exertion to assistance opera companies make and contiguous operas. One bundle programme called Opera Map would let companies to digitally representation their signifier to plan scenery with drag-and-drop interior plan technology. The bundle MusiCue would let signifier managers and accumulation designers to embed sound, lighting, projection and instrumentalist cues successful a integer mentation of the insubstantial philharmonic score. And Performance Stock Exchange would acceptable up a website wherever opera companies could pass with each different connected renting scenery, costumes, props and more.