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An electronic libretto system is used primarily in opera houses and is a device which presents translations of lyrics into an audience's language or transcribes lyrics that may be difficult to understand in the sung form.
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Since 1983, projected Supertitles or surtitles have been commonly used in opera or other theatrical and musical performances and they have proven to be a commercial success in art forms such as opera which are generally performed in their original language.
Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.
However, for many people, supertitles interfered with their enjoyment of a performance, because they tended to find themselves following the titles and not giving their full attention to the stage. This problem was solved by the development of an electronic libretto system, which utilizes individual screens placed on the back of each seat, thus allowing patrons either to view a translation or to switch them off during the performance.
Although initially developed by technicians at The Santa Fe Opera, the Metropolitan Opera was the first to install the system which they describe as Met Titles. [1] In the US, the electronic libretto system was further developed and patented as "Simultext" by Figaro Systems of Santa Fe, New Mexico with The Santa Fe Opera becoming the second house to adopt it in 1999 after its 1997/98 refurbishment.
Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located 7 miles (11 km) north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the Opera Association of New Mexico in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newly acquired former guest ranch of 199 acres (0.81 km2).
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and the seat of Santa Fe County.
Opera houses such as the Valencia Opera House, the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo, the Vienna State Opera in Vienna, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Royal Opera House in London and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi [2] and La Scala (both in Milan) have added the electronic titles, the latter providing English and Italian translations in addition to the original language of the opera.
The National Noh Theatre (国立能楽堂) opened in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan in September 1983. The auditorium seats 591 for performances of Noh and Kyōgen, and there is also a rehearsal stage, exhibition area, lecture room, and reference library.
Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, has served as the Japanese capital since 1869. As of 2018, the Greater Tokyo Area ranked as the most populous metropolitan area in the world. The urban area houses the seat of the Emperor of Japan, of the Japanese government and of the National Diet. Tokyo forms part of the Kantō region on the southeastern side of Japan's main island, Honshu, and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo was formerly named Edo when Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters in 1603. It became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. Tokyo is often referred to as a city but is officially known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of a city and a prefecture, a characteristic unique to Tokyo.
The Vienna State Opera is an Austrian opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera. In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian Republic, it was renamed the Vienna State Opera. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from its orchestra.
Other companies have developed similar technologies, such as Sonoidea in Spain, Visutech in Denmark, Radio Marconi in Italy, 3Com in US and Rokko Denki in Japan.
In the United States, various of these systems are now to be found at the Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, Colorado, at the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and in the Roy O. Disney Theatre, a part of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Miami, officially the City of Miami, is the cultural, economic and financial center of South Florida. Miami is the seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. The city covers an area of about 56.6 square miles (147 km2), between the Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay on the east; with a 2018 estimated population of 470,914, Miami is the sixth most densely populated major city in the United States. The Miami metropolitan area is home to 6.1 million people and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Miami's metro area is the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the United States with over 300 high-rises, 80 of which stand taller than 400 feet.
The Arsht Center is a performing arts center and is located Miami, Florida. It is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States.
The Ellie Caulkins Opera House, which opened on September 10, 2005, is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225. The Caulkins family pledged $7 million towards the enhancement of the lyric opera house and adjacent public spaces which were constructed inside of the Newton Auditorium.
This technology, which costs about $1,000 per seat, has been added or planned for during initial construction (as was the case with Santa Fe where it was added one year after the opening of the third opera house in 1998) or during planned renovation (as with La Scala during its two-year closure period). The installations of the Met, La Scala and the Arcimboldi, the Vienna State Opera, Liceu, and the Royal Opera House were possible with the donations of the philanthropist Alberto Vilar, at the time a majority shareholder of Figaro Systems. [3]
Alberto Vilar, a.k.a. Albert Vilar, is an American former investment manager who became particularly known as a patron of opera companies, performing arts organizations, and educational institutions. Following the collapse of his investment firm, Amerindo Investment Advisors, he was tried and convicted in November 2008 on charges of money laundering, investment advisor fraud, securities fraud, mail and wire fraud. He was sentenced in February 2010 to nine years in prison and released in 2018.
Today, a new trend is the Marconi multimedia patented interactive electronic libretto technology, installed in 2011 in the Royal Opera House Muscat, [4] Sultanate of Oman and in 2013 at the Musiktheater Linz, Wiener Staatsoper Austria and Stavros Niarchos Cultural center ( Athens). The event on stage become an interactive and multimedia experience that has the power to capture the audience's attention and involve people in the show. The audience can decide to view videos, texts, theatre information, surveys, or ask for assistance just by touching his/her personal screen. The video area will display the chosen content and, in the text multilanguage area, the related information appears as well as personal messages. This technology is able to shift the problem of the installation cost per seat to the revenue generation per seat thanks to its embedded marketing, donation and merchandising features.
