To stream or not to stream?
With theatres open and audiences returning, Montreal performing arts organizations grapple with the question
For the performing arts, it was a forced march to digital platforms during the pandemic. Shuttered theatres meant streaming shows online was the only way to reach a following and keep creatives engaged.
As in many industries, the future may be hybrid for some organizations, including the internationally acclaimed Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM).
“We had done some before, but it was during the pandemic that webcast concerts really took off,” said Marianne Perron, OSM senior director for music programming and artistic development, “and now we are among the most active orchestras online in the world.”
One major benefit: wider reach. In January 2021, the OSM’S newly appointed music director, Rafael Payare, took the podium for the first time. With the city under COVID-19 curfew, the concert of necessity was presented only online — and day one saw more than 200,000 people from 52 different countries tuning in. The average in-person concert at the Maison Symphonique will reach, at most, around 5,000.
As well, the concerts streamed during the pandemic attracted a different crowd. Overall, one-third of people logging on constituted a new audience for the orchestra. Including a school in Nunavik that was among the first to register for a youth concert, which provided the children with their first-ever experience of a classical music concert.
Perron says the streaming option still has appeal for some people. They may have safety concerns or simply find it more convenient to enjoy a concert in their living room, which is why the OSM will continue to offer it.
“Comments overall about our streaming have been positive, so now we’re in a period of exploration,” she said. “We want to provide a good experience to online audiences, so we can continue our role as an ambassador of Quebec and Canadian music with an even wider audience.”
The OSM kicked off the season of live concerts on Sept. 15, and in October will head to Europe for an international in-person tour, the first in two years. While they’re away, fans can tune into a new series of webcast concerts available each month at osm.ca and other platforms like Medici.tv and Mezzo. tv.
Another issue for performing arts organizations: With so many streaming options before them, will people attend a show in person?
“What we find now is that there is an audience that is fully ready to come back to the theatre with no masks or distancing,” said Lisa Rubin, artistic and executive director of the Segal Centre for Performing Arts. “They’re also going to concerts, restaurants and festivals. Then there are those who still would prefer to stay fully masked and distanced — or even stay home.”
Rubin is focusing on the first group for the 2022-23 season, which kicks off on Oct. 23 with Dracula – A Comedy of Terrors. The show and the four that follow will be performed live onstage with audiences attending in person. Face masks will be optional, except for certain performances where they will be mandatory. Also live: the wildly popular Broadway Café karaoke nights and Big Broadway Sing-along with Nick Burgess.
Digital content does have a place, she feels. For one, it can give folks a peek at the workings backstage. On Sept. 1, the season launch event was streamed live on both Facebook and Instagram; usually these events are reserved for the press and special guests. As well, Rubin made a video for Tiktok, “Make a season with me,” a fun look at what it takes to plan a theatre season.
But there will be no streaming option for most programming, for this director feels strongly that plays were never meant to be experienced in digital format.
“We’re advocating for live theatre as an experience like no other,” Rubin said, “and urging audiences to come out and be present.”
Live audiences packed Place des Arts earlier this month for the Opéra de Montréal’s (Odem) season opener, an innovative, all-new production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. When it comes to its digital future, the company is also taking a different artistic direction, says Catherine Gentilcore, communications and marketing director.
“During the pandemic, streaming works was new for us, unfamiliar territory,” she said. “Now, we’re exploring new ways to present opera to audiences online.”
Like the OSM, this organization developed an online following during the pandemic and found that streaming extended its reach. Most gratifying was the response from opera lovers around the world to original works, an important part of the Odem repertoire. Like the double bill of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Riders to the Sea and an original work, Le Flambeau de la nuit, that streamed free of charge earlier this year.
Catching the full scope of this ultimate art on the small screen, especially grand classics like Madama Butterfly slated for May 2023, is a huge production. Between singers, chorus, full orchestra and sometimes corps de ballet, there may be up to 250 people involved onstage and off.
Going forward, the Odem will take a very different approach, one that involves operatic works created exclusively, from beginning to end, for the realities of streaming, not the stage. Filming has begun on what is hoped to be a new vehicle for the art form. And while it is too soon to reveal more, Gentilcore says the project involves some “amazing artists,” some of whom will be making their first foray into the world of opera.
“We think it will be a very unique and powerful way to explore opera,” she said. “But nothing can replace the special magic of live performance, and we will continue to offer audiences that irreplaceable experience.”