# “CALLAS” Hologram Tour



## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

It's very obviously *not Callas*, and I wonder which audience this is aimed at. Old Callas fans, or a new audience altogether, attracted by the technology?

Has anyone on TC attended one of these performances? What is your take on this program?


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I seem to recall a thread about it before the tour took place. People weren't looking forward to it (that's an understatement by the way).

I thought this might be interesting depending on the technology and then I learned that some of the rep performed is of arias that we don't have filmed footage of Callas performing and therefore what we get will not be necessarily how she sang that rep. I would have been more interested had they recreated the Paris 1958 concert or the 1959 concerts using a hologram and the actual physical moves she made. Instead this is no more than a gimmick.

You can see how effective it is here:






I love the effect where she throws the cards in the air and they freeze, however I wouldn't pay to go out and see the concert. I can listen to Callas' recordings at home. When watching the footage that appears in Maria by Callas of the Trieste Norma and Chicago Butterfly I wasn't surprised by Callas' physical interpretation of each role. That's because there is a synthesis between the vocal and physical interpretation and I almost already felt the physical manifestation of these roles through the way Callas sings the music. The two elements are in complete agreement. This is lacking in the hologram above and there is something cold and robotic about it. I will continue to enjoy the few visual material of Callas performing in my own home and be thankful that her recorded legacy gives such a vivid impression of her art even when we can't literally see her.

N.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It's like a mobile wax museum. Even creepier because it moves.


----------



## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

I wonder if I'll live long enough to see the *Hitler Hologram Tour*. Say what you will but you know it'll happen .... For educational purposes of course.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Red Terror said:


> I wonder if I'll live long enough to see the *Hitler Hologram Tour*. Say what you will but you know it'll happen .... For educational purposes of course.


Well we have Tr***, why do we need Hitler.


----------



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I didn't go when it was here in London. The whole exercise seemed ghoulish and unnecessary. I don't think the hoogram even looked like Callas. Just another way for someone to cash in on the Callas legend.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Why did no one think of filming a talented female impersonator lip synching to La Divina like they do to Streisand. It would be much better.... and cheaper?


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

A female impersonator could be fun, at least. But seriously, we need simply to admit that Callas is no longer here and can never be duplicated, and to cherish the recorded traces we have, however incomplete they are. I enjoyed "Jurassic Park" immensely; the dinosaurs were stunningly realistic. But I have no desire to see someone's idea of Callasaurus.


----------



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> A female impersonator could be fun, at least. But seriously, we need simply to admit that Callas is no longer here and can never be duplicated, and to cherish the recorded traces we have, however incomplete they are. I enjoyed "Jurassic Park" immensely; the dinosaurs were stunningly realistic. But I have no desire to see someone's idea of Callasaurus.


You are right. I was just attempting humor. The money would be much better spent on improving the sound on her live Armida.


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I think Callas would have hated this. I know that is very easy to say, but her art was about finding the truth and she said that was her guiding principle. That is why she didn't pay a claque despite it making things more difficult for her. Her success had to be obtained truthfully otherwise it wasn't worth it.

That said, if the technology improved and they were to transfer the video footage we have of Callas into hologram format (so what we are seeing are at least the actual movements of Callas), then I would possibly give it a try.

N.


----------



## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I remember George Solti saying when Callas was on stage you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her. It’s called stage presence which all great actors have and cannot be duplicated by a false hologram. A waste of time


----------



## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

DavidA said:


> I remember George Solti saying when Callas was on stage you couldn't keep your eyes off of her. It's called stage presence which all great actors have and cannot be duplicated by a false hologram. A waste of time


I agree in part, however, couldn't that be said about all recordings? You don't get Callas' magnetic visual presence when listening to her sound recordings and you only get a shadow of it on the filmed performances that remain. However, these are still worth watching and listening to as they are all that remains of the legend.

If a hologram tour could be done faithfully and well (I give it ten years) then it would be worth seeing for me. A bit like the remastered colourised Maria by Callas film, where technology has enhanced the recorded moving images that exist.

N.


----------

