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Videos are available of dancers on the Holo screen and the plasma display. Video segmentation was particularly challenged by the lighting conditions and remains an area of active research.
Download more photos or a high-definition video clip.
Can opera be performed if the opera singers are standing on different stages in different time zones in different countries?
This question is at the heart of the World Opera Project, a planned joint, real-time live opera performance to take place simultaneously in several Canadian, U.S. and European cities. The project is envisioned as a worldwide opera house located in cyberspace.
Although simultaneous music performance trials over the Internet have been run previously, opera is one of the most demanding musical forms. It not only involves music, but demands that the singers create and convey emotional tension, a significantly more difficult task when performers, conductor and orchestra may be in different cities.
The McGill experiment is designed to test many factors which make networked performances unique. What are the limits at which the singers can cope with delay, and how does the delay affect the emotional connection between characters that is vital to a successful performance? Can the conductor help the singers compensate for this delay? Does the location of the orchestra influence their ability to synchronize?
Researchers from McGill's Centre for Intelligent Machines and McGill's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) are attempting to answer some of these questions. Vocal performers from McGill's voice program will be located in separate rooms, and will perform with internationally acclaimed conductor Niels Muus, accompanied by pianist Michael McMahon. The musicians see and hear each other through video monitors and speakers, but the delay between the rooms will be adjusted to simulate being networked across the country and half-way around the world.
These experiments are the result of a collaboration between researchers and musicians at McGill and researchers at the University of Tromø in Norway, initiated by The International World Opera association and funded in part by The Norwegian Research Council.
