The Verge: Opera’s building ChatGPT into its sidebar. “Opera’s adding a ChatGPT-powered tool to its sidebar that generates brief summaries of webpages and articles. The feature, called ‘shorten,’ is part of the company’s broader plans to integrate AI tools into its browser, similar to what Microsoft’s doing with Edge.” Hey, look, a common-sense use case!
PC World: Opera’s new Lucid Mode makes older video look like new. “Opera today has added Lucid Mode to its browser—an automatic feature that will sharpen and clarify older video on a variety of sites. Opera didn’t say what version of its desktop browser Lucid would be added to, but you’ll be sure to get it if you keep Opera up to date.”
Royal Opera House: Royal Opera House Stream – world-class performances now available online. “Launching today, the brand-new streaming service from Royal Opera House offers 45 stunning works from the rich archives of The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera, and over 85 behind-the-scenes features, trailers, talks and Insights.”
Gramophone: San Francisco Opera marks centenary with free access to online archive. “San Francisco Opera has launched a free online hub of historic recordings and rare archival interviews, as part of its centenary celebrations. Called Streaming the First Century, it will provide free entry to selected recordings from San Francisco Opera’s past, thematically inspired by upcoming performances this autumn.”
Sydney Morning Herald: ‘I became desperate’: the singer trying to recover her legacy from the ABC. “Marilyn Richardson, one of Australia’s finest ever opera singers, fears a chaotic approach to archiving at the ABC [Australian Broadcasting Corporation]– capped by a recent announcement of archivist staff cuts – could mean some of her historic performances have been lost forever. On one occasion, a family connection helped her track down a forgotten pile of recordings that had been left on a shelf in a locked room in a former ABC building in Adelaide.”
Dallas Morning News: Dallas Opera opens up online streaming service for all listeners. “The Dallas Opera has eliminated the subscription fee for its online streaming service… Most videos will be free, and some will be available at a low price…. Launched last April, the service provides a range of prerecorded videos, including past productions, recitals and concerts; kid-friendly shows; behind-the-scenes programs; imaginative opera videos created for online audiences and all episodes from the Dallas Opera Network, which features opera singers and instrumental musicians in digital mini-series.”
Australian Arts Review: Australian Opera championed in national first digital library. “Australia’s first digital library dedicated to Australian Opera has launched today thanks to State Opera South Australia. State Opera Artistic Director, Stuart Maunder said that the national online archive will champion all aspects of Australian Opera and is an important vehicle to protect the past, present and future of these great works.”
New York Times: Met Opera to Mandate Booster Shots for Staff and Audiences. “It is the first major performing arts institution to require boosters, as concern mounts over rising coronavirus cases and the spread of the Omicron variant. The rule will take effect Jan. 17.”
The Mayor: The Salzburg Festival opens up to the world with free digital archive. “The rich treasure trove offers theatre pieces, opera and classical music performances by some of the most iconic names of the 20th century…. Representatives of the Austrian Media Library estimate that the content could fill an entire two months of non-stop watching. They include 453 recordings, 262 audio and 191 video. Apart from the performed theatre pieces and musical pieces, there are also rare rehearsals.”
Gramophone: Birgit Nilsson Stiftelse launches new website devoted to the singer. “The Birgit Nilsson Stiftelse is today marking what would have been the singer’s 103rd birthday by launching a new website devoted to exploring her life and legacy. Rich in biographical accounts and atmospheric photographs, the website also serves as a resource for the museum devoted to the singer, for the Birgit Nilsson Prize, and for the Birgit Nilsson Stipendium – the scholarship established to support superb young artists of today.”
New York Times: Antoine Hodge, Opera Singer With a Powerful Work Ethic, Dies at 38. “Over the past two decades, Mr. Hodge appeared with more than 15 professional companies, singing mostly small or featured roles with troupes like Charlottesville Opera in Virginia and Opéra Louisiane in Baton Rouge and performing in the chorus at the Met, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Atlanta Opera and Opera Colorado.”
New York Times: Prompted by the Pandemic, Opera Philadelphia Innovates Online. “What can an opera company actually do in a pandemic? Yes, some previously planned performances can be turned into livestreams, and broadcasts of past stagings can be made freely available — if only to remind the public what it’s missing. But where some companies might be resigned to only that, Opera Philadelphia pluckily spent 2020 commissioning new work and launching its own streaming service.”
Broadway World: Wiener Staatsoper Opens Digital Archive. “For the period of the temporary closure (3 to 30 November 2020 inclusive), the Vienna State Opera will offer video recordings from the digital archive as a stream free of charge.”
Gramophone: Soprano Jennifer Vyvyan celebrated in new website. “A new website has been launched devoted to the life and legacy of soprano Jennifer Vyvyan (1925-74), setting her career within the musical, cultural and political context of the time, and as such painting a compelling portrait not just of the English singer, but of the era she inhabited.”
New York Times: The Metropolitan Opera Won’t Reopen for Another Year. “The Metropolitan Opera announced Wednesday that the still-untamed coronavirus pandemic has forced it to cancel its entire 2020-21 season, prolonging one of the gravest crises it has faced in its 137-year history and keeping it dark until next September.”
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