Published: 13 January 2011
Category: Vocal & Opera

Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor was the star soloist with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel in the first ever live HD broadcast of an orchestral concert, which was shown in over 450 cinemas across the United States and Canada. It is hoped that this will be the first of many broadcasts of high-profile orchestral performances and that they will follow the huge success of the Metropolitan Opera’s regular live HD broadcasts which have proved hugely popular with both traditional and new audiences.

The programme at the Walt Disney Concert Hall was an exciting mix of music, which included John Adams’s Slonimsky’s Earbox, Bernstein’s ‘Jeremiah’ Symphony in which Kelley was soloist, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. The New York Times described Kelley’s singing as ‘radiant’. The US media have already been discussing how thrilling it was to be able to watch the conductor and musicians at such close range and with such outstanding picture and sound quality, making for a much more collaborative experience for audiences who usually only see the back of the conductor in concert halls which can have variable acoustics depending on where the audience are sat.

This concert was the start of a major tour for the LA Philharmonic and Kelley O’Connor. There is a further performance in Los Angeles before the orchestra and Kelley tour to Europe with concerts planned in Lisbon, Köln, Paris, London, Budapest and Vienna, all of which will include performances of the Bernstein.

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