Death and the Powers

The live global interactive simulcast of the final February 2014 performance of Death and the Powers in Dallas made innovative use of satellite broadcast and Internet technologies to expand the boundaries of second-screen experience and interactivity during a live remote performance. In the opera, Simon Powers uploads his mind, memories, and emotions into The System, represented onstage through reactive robotic, visual, and sonic elements. Remote audiences, via simulcast, were treated as part of The System alongside Powers and the operabots. Audiences had an omniscient view of the action of the opera, as presented through the augmented, multi-camera video and surround sound. Multimedia content delivered to mobile devices, through the Powers Live app, privileged remote audiences with perspectives from within The System. Mobile devices also allowed audiences to influence The System by affecting the illumination of the Winspear Opera House’s Moody Foundation Chandelier.

The interactive simulcast was presented at these locales:

MIT Media Lab, Cambridge
Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles—presented by The Industry
San Francisco Conservatory, with Opera Parallèle
Perot Museum of Science and Nature, Dallas
National Opera Center, New York
Opera Philadelphia and the Franklin Institute
Royal Academy of Music, London
Operahögskolan and KTH, Stockholm

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