Vodafone Deutschland is working with Deutsche Oper Am Rhein to provide audiences at Düsseldorf Opera House with an enhanced augmented reality experience during its upcoming performances of Die tote Stadt.
Audiences will be provided with augmented reality glasses which will display additional digital content and enhance what’s happening on stage, such as background information on the plot, biographies of the actors and animated overlays.
The audience will also be able to choose from several camera angles – including a look into the orchestra pit, while the glasses will also provide subtitles for those who require them.
The glasses will connect to the audiences’ smartphones, which will use 5G to deliver the content.
“Our digital opera glasses combine the live experience and immersive technology to enable new, low-threshold access to the analogue world of music theatre,” said Professor Christoph Meyer, general manager of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
“Working on the prototype is part of our strategy to facilitate access to opera and ballet through digital offerings. And at the same time it should give an impetus to the general debate about ways of addressing a new audience in the digital age.”
Vodafone began working with the Opera company a year ago, developing the concept for the digital opera glasses. “AR technology digitally expands what is happening on stage and thus builds a bridge between the digital and the physical world,” added Michael Reinartz, head of innovation at Vodafone.
“The basis for corresponding AR applications is the 5G mobile network, in which the data flows particularly quickly due to the low latency. As a result, information is visible on the AR glasses in a very short time directly at the scene.”
The premiere of Die tote Stadt takes place on April 16th.
