Associated Projects

Experimental Concert Research

The research project Experimental Concert Research (an international collaboration between the University of York, Zeppelin University, University of Bern, and the Max-Planck-Institute für empirische Ästhetik), recently received funding from the VolkswagenFoundation to study the aesthetic experience of digital concerts. More information will follow here soon.


Streaming Berlin Opera in in times of Corona (SBOTCO): institutions, performance, reception

Ruth Müller-Lindenberg (Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover, Germany), Steffen Lepa (Audio Communication Group, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany)

  • In March 2020 the Berlin government shut – among other institutions – the three Berlin opera houses. Since then, their websites have been offering famous past stagings as digitally streamed video on demand. Increasingly, also new digital interaction formats are developed such as live chats on social media channels during the streaming „performances“. Great changes appear to be underway due to the pandemic-related pressure for faster digitalization. These may impact Berlin opera culture and citizen’s cultural participation far beyond lockdown times.

  • Our project aims at exploring the digital transformation process of Berlin opera culture in face of a global pandemic crisis. We will employ

    • digital social research methods such as online expert interviews, surveys and digital discourse analysis and

    • musicological analysis in order to evaluate changes of repertoire; the distribution of knowledge about opera; aesthetic perspectives on opera in general

    • in order to reconstructing current challenges and chances of Corona for Berlin opera such as:

      • the changing organization and management: E.g, typically, the PR-manager of the theatre was responsible for the website and its services. When more and more specific content is distributed and more technological know-how is needed, technological and dramaturgical questions will probably gain larger weight in decision processes and communication with the public;

      • the changing duties of dramaturgs: They are now forced to find new ways of communication about opera as a relevant historical art form;

      • the consequences regarding repertoire: An online schedule is different from an offline one for several reasons: legal questions regarding royalties; availability of existing recordings etc. We expect great changes by now-possible development of new artistic concepts for digital opera;

      • the perceived aesthetics and expectations of the actors and the audience: What does it do to the feeling of „liveness“ when opera can’t be performed on a real stage face-2-face with the audience? How do actors, the public, critics think about this? Can the live performance be substituted by streaming? What do people prefer and for what reasons?