Met Opera On Demand: Student Access (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Met Opera On Demand: Student Access Kathleen DeLaurenti Met Opera On Demand: Student Access. [New York, New York]: Metropolitan Opera. http://www.metoperafamily.org/ondemand/studentaccess/sales/overview (Accessed 12 January 2014). [Requires a Web browser, an audio-enabled device, and Adobe Flash Player. High-speed Internet connection of at least 2 mpbs recommended. Pricing: annual subscriptions prices vary and are based on institution FTE] Introduction After a 2006 launch that was only available to individual subscribers, the Metropolitan Opera has recently made institutional access to their Met on Demand services available through Met Opera on Demand: Student Access. This online product provides users with high- and standard-definition video of Metropolitan Opera productions as well as audio from historic Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. The student access platform also provides links to curated educational content on the operas, composers, productions, and singers featured in the catalog. Coverage All of the content presented in the database consists exclusively of Metropolitan Opera productions and curated educational content. Currently, the service includes sixty-seven high-definition streaming video productions originally presented through the Met’s Live in HD theater broadcasts, which began in 2006 with Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Many of these productions include the originally-broadcast introductions and intermission interviews with artists. Additional video content consists of sixty-eight standard–definition streaming video productions. In addition to the streaming video content, there are 336 audio-only productions available dating back to the 1936 broadcast of Wagner’s Götterdammerung.1 Many important productions are represented. The high-definition catalog alone includes important American works like John Adams’s Nixon in China and Doctor Atomic alongside company premieres like Tan Dun’s The First Emperor, and the baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island. Many operas are represented by multiple productions. Notably, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde appears eight times—the earliest performance featuring Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchior from the 1938 radio broadcast and the most recent featuring Deborah Voigt and Roger Dean Smith in a high-definition performance from 2008. Listening to the history of this work at the company provides an unparalleled research tool for scholars of opera and performance practice. Educational content is linked to the streaming site, as well. In addition to a synopsis for every opera, many videos include links to regularly-published Metropolitan Opera content such as the In Focus series. This series contains information about the opera, music, composers, and Metropolitan Opera productions (including premieres). Some of the operas also link to contemporary program notes from the streaming production on view. The most exciting content is some of the additional multimedia available under Spotlights. For example, in addition to linking to the previously mentioned publications, the Spotlight currently published for Richard Strauss provides audio documentaries, additional video clips, [End Page 727] and interviews with singers of historic importance like Lotte Lehmann, Leonie Rysanek, and Christa Ludwig.2 Content is added monthly. The current Recently Added section includes productions from 2013 as well as standard-definition video additions from the 1990s and audio broadcasts from the 1950s.3 Navigation The Student Access portal is designed with easy browsing in mind. On launch, the site provides recent additions in categories labeled Live in HD Presentations, Classic Tele casts, and Radio Broadcasts. A mouse-over on production icons gives a quick preview that includes composer, librettist, conductor, principals, running time, and short description of the production. The icons for video are production stills and the audio broadcasts use a template and are conveniently color-coded by decade to aid in date browsing. The launch page also provides options to view the catalog by format, date, or title. A simple keyword search is available as well. This general search does not seem to accept Boolean operators. This might not be problematic, but the advanced search available does not seem to be quite accurate. For example, a search on Domingo as conductor returns both productions where Placido Domingo is featured as a singer and productions on which he conducts. Metadata for production designers and directors also seems inconsistent. A search for Zeffirelli fails to return any results, including his well-known La Bohème which was presented in HD in...