PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF LA CAIXA FOUNDATION
AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR of shutdown , London ’ s
Royal Opera House reopened its doors in May with
Current , Rising , a new Shakespeare-inspired production that combines a libretto with virtual reality ( VR ). For each 15-minute performance , an audience of four enters a specially designed set on the
Linbury
Theatre stage , where they don wireless VR headsets . From there , they travel through continually materializing and dissolving landscapes based on the final act of The Tempest . With dusk crescendoing into dawn , they encounter themes of isolation and togetherness through all their senses as a gentle wind blows on their faces while
INSIDE THE MUSIC VR provides audiences with new ways to experience music and the instruments that produce the notes they hear . Above , a still showing a violin ’ s interior , from Symphony , a free virtual concert sponsored by Barcelona ’ s La Caixa Foundation .
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