The world's first ever live Internet streaming of opera took place on Thursday 11 November 2010 when the opening night of Tosca by Opera Ireland was streamed live on the Internet in HD sound and vision from Dublin's Gaiety theatre to audiences worldwide.
Lovers of opera watched Puccini's tragic masterpiece, featuring internationally acclaimed Irish soprano, Orla Boylan on platformireland.ie, a new Irish arts and cultural digital channel. Using computers or smart phones, opera buffs watched Thursday's performance under the baton of maestro Gianluca Martinenghi from the comfort of their homes or on the go.
Funded by Still Point Productions, Opera Ireland, the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport and Dublin City Council Arts Service, Thursday's live opera streaming was pioneered by platformireland.ie who plan to stream further live performances from Spring 2011. Additional platformireland.ie projects include a domestic audio-visual news service in partnership with local authorities and a content development venture in collaboration with leading arts organisations, broadcasters and production companies.
Welcoming this significant development in Irish broadcasting, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Mary Hanafin TD said,
"This ground breaking and historic live streaming of Irish opera demonstrates the capacity and potential of the Irish creative industries. Working collaboratively across the Arts, Audio Visual and ICT sectors, we again prove that Ireland is at the forefront of digital innovation. Importantly, we are paving a new way to engage audiences, whomever and wherever they may be, with Irish arts and culture…we invite you to play your part and click play!"
Jessica Fuller, MD of Still Point Productions, producer of Thursday's live internet broadcast and founder of platformireland.ie said that this event positions Ireland as a world leader in digital media aggregation and distribution. Jessica is studying for a Masters in Cultural Policy in UCD and her work on arts over the internet forms part of her MA Thesis.
"This achievement is testament to the skill and ambition of our creative sector in very difficult times. We have a team of over 50 individuals across 12 companies and national agencies involved in making this happen," she said.
"This pilot proves that by synergising services between the Arts, Audio-Visual and ICT sectors, we can create employment, lower access thresholds to the arts and offer alternative revenue streams for the professional arts sector," concluded Jessica Fuller.
Platform Ireland is currently running a Research and Development Phase comprising a series of distinct modules until December 2011, with the aim of trading in 2012. The "Opening Night Live" module will offer streamed and on-demand screenings of live performances by leading Irish performing groups to arts and community venues exclusively via platformireland.ie. The "Arts Newsround" module will offer domestic audio-visual news services such as "New View", in partnership with the Arts Council, Galway City Council, Dublin City Council, Galway County Council and Limerick City Council. And finally, the "Content Development" module will leverage partnerships with leading arts organisations, broadcasters and production companies to find new and alternative ways of distributing and commercialising niche cultural content.
Platform Ireland was acknowledged in the Irish submission to the EU Green Paper on Creative Industries (July 2010), and has been presented under the section 'Mobility and the Circulation of Cultural and Creative Works' as the working example of cultural content dissemination models for Ireland and Europe.
