First Base to Primo Basso
I know of only one person who gave up an opera career for baseball, but there seem to have been many who have gone in the opposite direction. On Site […] More
Opera-Media Servings
Happy to Be an Opera Engineer
October 2017 marks my 45th consecutive year as (freelance) engineer-in-charge at the media department at the Metropolitan Opera. That’s a long time to work for a company, but it’s not […] More
The Polish Polymath Who Came Up With Television For Opera – In 1878
His name was Julijan Ochorowicz (though his first name was also spelled Julian or even Julien), and he was, among other things, a scientist, engineer, mathematician, inventor (credited with […] More
The Impresario Who Invented the Movie Theatre
A long time ago, I worked on a television show featuring opera star Luciano Pavarotti singing at the Spectrum arena, home of the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. The concert […] More
Rossini, Fax Pioneer
A version of this was originally posted in Media-Technology and Opera History on Rossini’s 54th birthday, February 29, 2016. Gioachino Rossini, composer of such operas as Il barbiere di […] More
IEEE Proceedings: Fandom of the Opera
This one has it all, from toxic candles to quantum entanglement, the story of how opera created the modern media world, with full references. Here’s a free link to […] More
The First Bootleg Recording
Opera has a long history of bootleg recording. The “Golden Age of Opera” label, begun in the 1950s, used unauthorized off-air recordings from Metropolitan Opera (Met) radio broadcasts. Before […] More
Opera in New York City in 2015
Opera was alive and well in New York City, again, in 2015. I have tried to compile all of the opera performances there in that year. I’ve probably missed […] More
Operatic Media Borrowings, Hybrids, and Commixtion by Mark Schubin
Presented at SID: Sounds, Images, and Data 2015 (http://ocradst.org/sid2015), New York University, New York City on July 24, 2015. Direct Link (69 MB / TRT 35:36): Operatic Media Borrowings, […] More
The Technology of Le nozze di Figaro by Mark Schubin
The Technology of “The Marriage of Figaro” In October 2014, the Metropolitan Opera transmitted The Marriage of Figaro live from its technologically advanced stage to more than 2000 cinemas worldwide. […] More