Back to overview

Matteo Collettini, Editor "Erlebnis Bühne" (Experience Stage) #58 How does culture work in the digital? The outstanding success of the initiative "Wir spielen für Österreich" (We play for Austria), which ORF III Kultur und Information launched as part of the programme Erlebnis Bühne (Experience the Stage) with Barbara Rett, in particular, shows what a public broadcaster that is innovative in form and courageous in content is capable of achieving.
Since the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, Barbara Rett and her editorial team, in cooperation with the most important cultural institutions in the country, have been creating a series of programmes which, taking into account the current Corona prevention measures, enable viewers in Austria and all over the world to enjoy opera and concert performances comfortably and safely in their own homes.
From the very beginning, "Wir spielen für Österreich" was conceived as an "intermedial" format. From the very first episode of the series, an evening of arias created in collaboration with the Vienna State Opera, which went on air on 19 April 2020, Barbara Rett welcomed not only her television viewers but also the users of the ORF TVthek and the audiovisual classical music platform of ORF and UNITEL, fidelio. The next day, the hopeful greeting from Vienna could also be received worldwide via streaming. The evening not only offered a reunion with opera stars such as Anna Netrebko or Piotr Beczała, but also a "digital programme booklet" that was available on the ORF III website.
Over the next few weeks, the station set up similar potpourri evenings with the Volksoper Wien (26 April) and the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien /VBW (3 May), in keeping with the musical focus of each institution.
Also this year, ORF III and fidelio made a pilgrimage to the hotspots of the Austrian festival summer with programmes such as "Festival Summer Neusiedlersee". As early as 24 May, viewers could pay a visit to the festival city of Salzburg with "Mozart@home". Another reliable partner of Erlebnis Bühne and fidelio has also been the Grafenegg Festival with its director Rudolf Buchbinder for several years.
Linear television and the streaming platform also went together when the Vienna State Opera, under the new direction of Bogdan Roščić, was able to reopen with Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" (7 September) and unfortunately had to close its doors again soon afterwards due to rising Corona infections. Now, once again, flexibility and quick action were called for: ORF III and fidelio, again in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera and the Theater an der Wien, offered their audiences highlights of the musical autumn such as the operas Zazà (8 November), Eugene Onegin (15 November) and Le nozze di Figaro in a production by Alfred Dorfer (29 November).
The holiday programme of Erlebnis Bühne, still under the motto "We play for Austria", could also be seen, heard and of course streamed in the truest sense of the word: Our viewers were able to experience Anna Netrebko in her Vienna debut as Tosca (13 December) or Martina Serafin as Marschallin (27 December). Nor did Mrs. and Mr. Austrian have to do without their "Fledermaus", despite Corona. Usher Frosch catapulted everyone into the new year, for the first time via television set and online.
2020 is now history, the series "We play for Austria" continues in an exciting way. The challenges that have shaped our daily lives since last year have once again made it unmistakably clear what outstanding importance a public media institution has, which, like ORF, offers the viewer quality and sees technological progress as an opportunity.
ORF III Culture and Information, the youngest member of the ORF family, lived up to its name last year. Under difficult conditions, it not only expanded its range of information programmes, but also made television history with the series "Wir spielen für Österreich" (We play for Austria). The opera broadcasts and concerts, which the viewer could receive exclusively at home, on the television set or as a stream, were intended, far beyond the borders of Austria and first and foremost, to be a sign of hope in difficult times.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)