Bavarian State Opera is the first opera house to present, with staatsoper.tv, a season of free live streams online. Performances begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time (11 a.m. on Nov. 3).
The season starts on Nov. 3 with the stream of Jörg Widmann's new opera, Babylon, conducted by Kent Nagano.
With libretto by Peter Sloterdijk, the opera deals with the great city of the ancient Near East, with its diverse juxtaposition of and clash between cultures and languages. Carlus Padrissa of the Catalan theater group La Fura dels Baus is responsible for the stage production.
Other productions to be streamed are: Turandot on Nov. 25, John Neumeier's The Nutcracker ballet on Dec. 13, Rigoletto on Dec. 30, Jenufa on March 9, 2013, The Flying Dutchman on April 20, Macbeth on May 11, and Terence Kohler's Helden on June 1.
General Manager Nikolaus Bachler says:
staatsoper.tv aims to open up opera, to provide as many spectators from all over the world with the opportunity to see first-class opera performances from Munich. This cannot replace an evening in the opera house, of course, nor is it intended to. But for all those who cannot be here, staatsoper.tv is the best way of experiencing exciting musical theater.
Up to six cameras and 40 microphones in the auditorium of the National Theater are used in the telecasts, which are offered in three transmission qualities, which will adjust automatically to the viewer's computer power or internet connection.