North Terrace

Stravinsky : Pulcinella  - Suite Dvorák : Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" London Symphony Orchestra Jonathan Heyward

 Donizetti : Maria Stuarda Zurich Opera Chorus Philharmonia Zurich Enrique Mazzola

 Mussorgsky : Boris Godunov Zürich Opera Chorus Philharmonia Zürich Kirill Karabits

 Puccini : La bohème  (arr. Dove) The Orchestra of Scottish Opera Stuart Stratford

Theoretically, this should be have been a blog about a live brodacast, in the same way I was doing them for the cinema HD broadcasts over the last few years. The fact remains is that it's different watching at home. There are technical issues which don't (usually) exist in the cinema, both in terms of audio and video, and there's an ambience, or lack thereof, a different type of listening/watching experience. Yet this is something that is likely to become more prevalent, especially the longer it is before a viable vaccine for COVID-19 emerges. Streaming live may allow theatrical companies and orchestras to make up, to some extent, for the obligatory reduced capacity of their regular venues.  Also to the good, it opens up the experience, potentially, to an audience which might normally feel excluded from the concert hall or opera house both in terms of price and of public. To those, the question of ambience at home will not be significant; to those like me, it is someth