Just in: Europe launches free opera streaming platform

Opera Platform was launched today at the Opera Europa conference in Madrid.

Supported by the European Commission’s Creative Europe programme, the website links cultural broadcaster ARTE and 15 opera companies including Covent Garden and Welsh National Opera in the UK. The aim is to offer free content, including live performances from the 15 opera participating companies.

First up is La Traviata tomorrow from Madrid followed, on May 16, by Szymanowski’s opera Król Roger from Covent Garden.

Bookmark the new site here.

Although no-one’s saying it, Opera Platform is, in part, a bid to break the Met’s global streaming hegemony.

The founding participants are:

·         Wiener Staatsoper

·         La Monnaie/De Munt Brussels

·         Finnish National Opera, Helsinki

·         Festival d’Aix-en-Provence

·         Opéra national de Lyon

·         Komische Oper Berlin

·         Staatstheater Stuttgart

·         Teatro Regio di Torino

·         Latvian National Opera Riga

·         Dutch National Opera and Ballet Amsterdam

·         Den Norske Opera og Ballett Oslo

·         Teatr Wielki/Opera Naradowa Warsaw

·         Teatro Real Madrid

·         The Royal Opera

·         Welsh National Opera

Programme of the opening six months

8 May Launch of The Opera Platform

Live transmission from Teatro Real de Madrid of La traviata de Verdi, conducted by Renato Palumbo and directed by David McVicar, with Ermonela Jaho, Francesco Demuro and Juan Jesús Rodríguez

16 May Live transmission from Royal Opera House Covent Garden of Król Roger by Karol Szymanowski, conducted by Antonio Pappano and directed by Kasper Holten, with Mariusz Kwiecień, Georgia Jarman and Saimir Pirgu

23 May Transmission from Finnish National Opera Helsinki of Kullervo by Jean Sibelius, conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste and directed by Tero Saarinen

30 May Transmission from Latvian National Opera Riga of Valentina by Arturs Maskats, conducted by Modestas Pitrenas and directed by Viesturs Kairish

7 June Live transmission from Wiener Staatsoper of Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and directed by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, with Evelyn Herlitzius, Stephen Gould, Falk Struckmann, Boaz Daniel and Caroline Wenborne

8 July Live transmission from Festival d’Aix-en-Provence of Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, conducted by Jérémie Rhorer and directed by Martin Kušej, with Jane Archibald, Rachele Gilmore, Daniel Behle, David Portillo, Albert Pesendorfer and Tobias Moretti

August Focus on Festivals dedicated to and founded by composers, including features on Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro and Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival

September Focus on Norway : new horizons for opera. Transmission from Den Norske Opera og Ballett of La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, conducted by Eivind Gullberg Jensen and directed by Stefan Herheim, with Marita Sølberg, Jennifer Rowley, Diego Torre and Vasilij Ladjuk

October Focus on Italy: birthplace of opera

Aida from Teatro Regio Torino conducted by Gianandrea Noseda and directed by William Friedkin