Author's note: “I usually buy single tickets for Met Opera productions but will purchase a flex subscription for next season right now, in light of the COVID-19 impact. People with the means to do so must support cultural institutions today in anticipation of a vibrant fall season. Purchase theater tickets, renew museum memberships, or send a donation to the cultural institutions you love so they may continue to enrich our lives.”
What is it about an opera stage that begs for the visual energy of projection?
Over the past few years, the opera world has surpassed traditional theater in its embrace of projection design. In a few instances, opera houses have made significant investments in media technology, such as projectors and media servers, to keep the technology in-house and at the ready.
To try and answer the opera/projection question, I did a little digging, talked to some informed sources, and acquired some first-hand experiences. I’ll admit the last task was pretty easy as I’m an avid opera-goer, and it’s great to see a technology I’ve worked with for so long prominently and artistically presented.
There are a number of reasons why opera design lends itself to media display. First and foremost, opera stages tend to be very spacious, much more so than a traditional theater, and opera directors have always been on the lookout for scenic techniques that will scale up to the enormous contours of a major opera house. Similar to an arena rock tour, opera design needs to be big and grand. That is why opera has, for centuries, been reliant on stage technology to an advanced degree.
In addition to the physical elements, opera, like many traditional cultural institutions, is challenged by a need for younger audiences who have a high threshold for visual stimulation. As has been commented upon by opera-haters since time immemorial, operas are habitually much longer than standard theater fare and there’s often not much activity taking place on stage. In fact, there are lengthy interludes where the stage action is limited to a couple of people standing in one place and singing at each other!
While true opera lovers may be content to soak in the music (and perhaps catch a quick nap) during the static lulls on stage, the more casual opera audience wants to experience visual as well as auditory energy. The option of painting a set with animated imagery becomes a very attractive method for enlivening that four-hour Wagner warhorse or that shorter, but 100% atonal, modern masterpiece. Of course, the astute designer will also utilize the media to enhance the narrative and advance the storyline.
A good example of using video to energize and scale up a design for a grand opera stage would be the recent production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Canadian Opera Company, and Opera Australia that I saw at the Met. Wozzeck is the darkest of dark-themed narratives, unflinching in its depiction of poverty, betrayal, and despair. In addition, the score, while accessible and frequently ravishing, won’t send you home whistling the melodies.
In response to these challenges, the director, noted South African visual artist William Kentridge along with Catherine Meyburgh, projection designer, uses the set, as well as the expansive upstage wall that extends the height of the proscenium, as a canvas for a staggering collage of imagery in view throughout the opera. Transitions in the video programming complemented the score perfectly, and no artist translates dark emotion into video art as effectively as Kentridge and his team. Altogether, the design and direction made it difficult to avert one’s eyes from the stage even during the most tragic scenes.
For a clearer understanding of how the Met handles production video, I spoke with Anup Aurora, the lead video tech, about the process and workflow involved with transferring a production from one opera house to another. “The process varies from production to production, but in general, if a production with a video component is coming from another house and it was supported with a different system than the disguise servers we have, we’ll strip out the media assets and re-program. That can mean sitting with both media servers side by side, and going through cues layer by layer and even frame by frame. We do our best to make sure that the show remains exactly the same as the designer intended."
Aurora continues, “For Wozzeck, it was quite different because in Catherine’s (Meyburgh) workflow, she creates the entire video environment including masking layers in post and provides a composited video clip. For our production, that meant testing the original content and registration grid from Opera Australia, and then using NDI to connect Catherine's laptop directly to disguise so that she could trace the set live and adjust the registration grid for our stage. Catherine then modified the media to match and re-rendered. However, a production like Porgy and Bess (designed by Luke Halls), which was originally done in disguise, just dropped into our system with minimal work to adjust the model for our space. Either way, we have the tools to make it work, and our translations have been successful.”
Komische Oper Berlin production of Die Zauberflöte; photo courtesy of Komische Oper Berlin
In contrast to the dark mood of Wozzeck, a touring production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute performed by Komische Oper Berlin recently came to the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center. With video design and animations by the UK-based 1927, this production offers a svelte and often hilarious version of Mozart’s mystical masterpiece. This production is a great example of opera design using projection to condense, clarify, and stimulate.
In this Berlin, circa-1920s themed production, a single large wall provides all the scenery and is the lone projection surface. The wall includes various portals where performers enter, exit, and appear. The brilliance of the projection design was based on simplicity and wit. Using just a single projector, the animators use silent-film style graphics, cartoons, and text to augment the stage activity and most importantly, do away with the lengthy recitative that frequently slows down the proceedings in the original conception.
While video is certainly not the answer for every opera design (and video that doesn’t enhance is the answer no one needs), there are many examples beyond the two I’ve described to enjoy. Opera houses including San Francisco, Madrid, Dallas, and Chicago have invested in the technology to bring these designs to life. This is a trend that is certain to grow, thanks to the design teams focusing their talents on this treasured art form.
Throughout a 40-year career in the entertainment technology business, Josh Weisberg has experienced each of the evolutionary leaps in sound, video, and lighting technology from a seat in the front row. Combining a rare level of business management and technical engineering acumen, Weisberg has a keen understanding of the mechanics of running a technology business as well as the engineering and design chops clients rely on for all types of projects. Currently working as a technology and business consultant (having stepped down from the leadership role at Scharff Weisberg and WorldStage in 2017), Weisberg utilizes his expertise in large-screen display design as well as other event technologies for clients in the event, arts, theater, and spectacle sectors.