Aug/093
Who tuned in to the live streaming broadcast on the internet?
Thanks to HEAnet, we have some statistics about who was on-line for the concert from UCH on Sunday.
Of course these stats only show those who were able to tune in at the time of the concert performance (1330 – 1625 GMT, about 0530 in western Canada).
The live stream will be available later.
It will be edited to take out all the gaps. It will then be made available as an archive. Many more will tune in during the autumn/fall. Over time, the internet audience for the concert may well exceed the numbers in the Hall.
There were 301 “Pageviews” with 162 “Unique Views“
- I think this means 162 different computers logged on to the broadcast. Some of those computers may have had groups huddled round them. Some of the computers may have been linked to TV screens.
The “Top 10 Countries” for audience were
1. Ireland 72 (44%)
2. United Kingdom 36 (22%)
3. Canada 17 (10%)
4. Germany 8 (5%)
5. Italy 7 (4%)
6. Switzerland 6 (4%)
7. United States 6 (4%)
8. Portugal 4 (2%)
9. Australia 3 (2%)
10. Norway 3 (2%)
But these figures don’t tell us the whole audience story.
We have a “Viewer Breakdown within Ireland“
1. Dublin 23 (32%)
2. Limerick 21 (29%)
3. Sligo 9 (13%)
4. Cork 7 ( (10%)
5. Waterford 7 (10%)
6. Letterkenny, Co Donegal 2 (3%)
7. Galway 2 (3%)
8. Naas, Co Kildare 1 (1%)
But I can tell you 4 people watched & listened to at least part of it on my laptop in Cork. Perhaps you need to multiply the number of computers by 4 to get an accurate sense of the internet audience.
Aug/090
Worldwide audience for SMS Concert from Limerick
Backstage in University Concert Hall (UCH) after the concert, the musicians looked at (and listened to) themselves on stage playing…
For me, the most poignant moment on Saturday evening was when a musician turned to me and said
“My father can’t travel to hear me play. Now he could watch the concert on the internet…”
I thought: what’s the story? is his father ill? is this a one-off? imagine his father never being about to hear him play live?
That was a moment of enormous force.
A moment when I resolved to do all I could to help bring about change, to harness the power of the internet of help overcome such limitations. We no longer need to be there in person to watch and hear the concert. So let us make it happen. Let’s live-stream every concert…
You are looking at a photograph of two wonderful musicians watching the concert being played back.
HEAnet (who & what it is) reaction to the live broadcast they sponsored:
I heard from David Collopy, UCH, today that the HEAnet people were delighted with the broadcast. The quality of sound was spectacular. It should have been: it went out down a pipe that was 1 gigabyte wide (whatever that means) on fiber optic cable. (Even I know that’s cutting edge.)
Whenever we use the word “audience” again, let’s think of the bigger audience out there with internet access…
I hope there are people in the wider Irish arts community reading about SMS, and thinking “how could we do the same?“
Aug/090
More instrumentalists arrive
Today sees the arrival of Sharon Nye, cellist, who is on the faculty of the Clare Music Makers in Ennis, Co. Clare. Sharon has been busy organizing the music the SMS Senior Orchestra will need for the start of the Instrumental Programme proper on Tuesday 4th August. She’s been helped by Deirdre Stack-Marques who counts photocopying among her duties in the SMS Office. Being very organized, as Sharon is, means that much less stress for everybody on the first day.
Also arriving this evening are flautists Tanja Fritschi who is also a faculty member of Clare Music Makers, and Chris Lacey who lives and works in London and has been an esteemed SMS faculty member for many years.
They are, of course, going to tonight’s concert by John Perry and friends which is also being streamed live over the web from the University Concert Hall with the much appreciated support of HEAnet, UL ITD, and LIT. More information on tonight’s web stream can be had on the Summer Music on the Shannon site.
Aug/090
The live broadcast of music on the internet
Here are some links if you’d like to know more about the current state of play on live streaming of classical music on the internet…
Atanar.com - This is a company dedicated to the area of Internet performances, CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) & Video streaming over the Net.
Medici.tv – huge resource of concerts to listen to…
Communications Breakdown – a blog post I found
Classical live on-line radio – not live video streaming, but useful link for music lovers
Jul/090
Live streaming tomorrow night from UCH
For more information on our first ever live-streaming from Summer Music on the Shannon tomorrow evening 1st August at 8.00pm from the University Concert Hall in UL, check out the live streaming page on Summer Music on the Shannon.
Many thanks to HEAnet, ITD, UCH and LIT for their support and help in this exciting venture.
Jul/091
First LIVE Concert Streaming from University Concert Hall & UL
An exiting press release… (Thanks to David Collopy)
On Saturday 1st August people from all over the world can zone in on University Concert Hall and watch, listen to and enjoy musicians –also from all over the world – perform Live!
“The PianoMan” is the inaugural concert of this year’s Summer Music on the Shannon International Festival and will be the first ever concert streamed Live from the UL campus.
Over three hundred classical music and opera students and faculty have gathered in University Concert Hall from countries including the US, Canada, France, Italy and even Zambia, for Summer Music on the Shannon 2009.
UCH & UL are therefore delighted to announce this innovation whereby parents, friends and family of these young pupils can now log on and enjoy the first performance of the Festival!
Hosted by the HEA (Highter Education Authority) Net and facilitated by the University of Limerick ITD department, this will be the first of many concerts streamed live from UCH for the benefit and enjoyment of music fans the world over!
“The PianoMan” will feature John Perry, Professor of Music at the University of Southern California, and friends perform a delightful programme of music including Schubert’s Fantasia (Piano for Four Hands), Beethoven’s Piano Sonata In D and Terzetto in C by Dvorak. The concert is Free to the public and is sure to set the scene for a wonderful 16th SMS season!
For those of you who cannot get to UCH next Saturday night, be sure to log onto http://flashhost.heanet.ie/sms/live.html and enjoy!
Jul/090
John Perry has arrived
Pianist extraordinaire, John Perry, arrived into Shannon at 6.15am this morning and is due shorty on the main stage at the University Concert Hall for rehearsals.
John performs a free concert this coming Saturday night 1st August at UCH.
The programme is as follows:
- Fantasia in F minor’, Op.103 (piano, four hands) – Franz Schubert, performed by John Perry and Mina Perry
- ‘Terzetto in C major’, Opus 74, (two violins & cello) – Anton Dvorak, performed by David Stewart, Violin, Paule Préfontaine, Violin; David Gaudry, Viola; and David Bucknall, Cello.
- ‘Piano Sonata in D’, Op. 10, No.3 – Ludwig van Beethoven
- ‘Piano Quartet in A major’, Op. 26 – Jonhannes Brahms
- Also starring on Viola is David Gaudry
The concert promises to be terrific, and if you’re unlucky enough not to be able to attend, do not fret as it is being live-streamed on the web, through the auspices of UL IT Dept., UCH, HEAnet and LIT. I’ll post a link to the live stream nearer the time.
Jul/090
Testing the live streaming today
Today the live streaming setup is being tested by the guys who are setting it up, namely UL, UCH and HEAnet.
After a 12 o’clock video conference in the bowels of the UL Library Building to finalise some technical details, we repaired to the Concert Hall where the Camera and microphones were already set up and ready to go.
David Collopy and I were present at the meeting as representatives of UCH and SMS.
Paul Boland of UCH together with Dave and his team of UL IT Dept are at this end – in the concert hall itself – in constant communication with the guys in HEAnet through whose servers the feed is being processed.
I’ve been given the url of the feed, which will go on a web page on the Summer Music on the Shannon once the feed’s been satisfactorily tested, in good time for the inaugural streaming of John Perry’s Concert on Saturday evening at 8pm.