One of the country’s most prestigious live theatre companies has joined the mass pivot to online streaming with the launch of OA | TV: Opera Australia on Demand.
The free, on-demand streaming service will release exclusive content every week, drawing from the company’s extensive back catalogue of live performance recordings. That includes the world’s most comprehensive video collection of performances by celebrated Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland, recognised as one of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century.
Launched overnight, you can now head over to tv.opera.org.au to watch Sutherland in one of her most celebrated performances, as Hannah Glawari in the 1988 production of Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, performed at the Sydney Opera House. Opera Australia has also released the full-length production of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s inaugural 2012 season of La Traviata, which was due to be revived this year before restrictions on public gatherings were deployed.
“Understandably it’s been devastating for everyone at the company not being able to perform and we know our fans are missing us as much as we’re missing being on stage,” said Opera Australia’s artistic director, Lyndon Terracini. “We’ve actually been wanting to launch OA | TV for some time, and now we have the right digital platform and the time to develop it, so we can share not only our rich history with our fans, but also it’s an opportunity for them to meet some of our incredibly talented artists as well as some of the key people working behind the scenes.”
The platform will continue to release four categories of programs; Opera in the Sydney Opera House, Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, The Best of Dame Joan Sutherland, and a series of chat show style interviews called In Conversation with Lyndon Terracini - the first featuring concert master Jun Yi Ma.