How can you create digital live concerts with that little extra?
Kalaudioskop is a research and innovation initiative and in the summer of 2025 a workshop was held where participants were given the chance to be involved in shaping the future of digital live experiences. Before this workshop, many activities have already been carried out.
For example, it has been an opportunity to develop the user experience, exploring the idea based on the needs of different artists and audiences. Another treated Legal issues from different perspectives (Concert X). In an Audio Lab a recording of a concert was made using 180 microphones in six recording techniques so that one now has a good idea of which techniques work best for which context. It has also been done tests of how AI can be used to know where in a score you are and decide in advance when you want to include activities such as camera bytes, text messages to spectators or page changes for musicians and more. Finally, it was also tested how it is possible to broadcast a live concert via 5G through a broadcast of Malmö Opera set of Falstaff being played from a truck flake. It turned out to be entirely possible to do this via public networks -- but when the audience comes with their mobile phones, it becomes crowded on the networks. In addition, a new consortium has been created and a new application made to ensure the continuation of the work.
During the meeting, the Spanish technology company presented Cinfo how they work with AI and cloud solutions — which pairs well with Kalaudioscope and merging live streams. The project has tested a recording of La Boheme at Malmö Opera with eight different cameras. Students Johan Magnusson and Jonas Ståleger showed a digital platform they created to gather interested people in chat rooms so that they can interact with each other during the performance. The same environment could be used to teach or lecture to a group.
In the workshop held in June, it was time to collect the participants' own reflections based on their experiences and the possibilities they see with Kalaudioscope. Here are some of the views:
* It is positive to use the technology for educational platforms and universities. The technology is also an opportunity for festival organizers.
* It's interesting to see what the new tools can bring beyond the live experience. It could be to show the process behind the performance, such as showing new angles of image that provide discoveries about how the performance has been made and thus invite to the creative process.
* The technology in Kalaudioscope can be an important opportunity for music students and higher education, but the social dimension is also important for democratizing the possibility of attending live concerts.
* It's a great opportunity to give access to more people to discover how people play. For younger people, it can provide information and a different understanding of how music is performed which makes it easier for them to learn.
* Technology can provide opportunities for emerging communities, new styles of music and new audiences.
* In addition to what is usually included in a concert, you could add more stimuli — perhaps scent or taste?
*Technology and social behavior will change. The new technology can be used to profile different activities, such as an opera house so that a special audience discovers them.
* A distinction can be made between the possibility of designing the experience of the performance and the design of the artwork. The participant's opinion was that it may be open to the audience can design the experience but not the artwork or performance itself.
*The live streaming format is not only suitable for concerts, dance performances and theatre productions, but also for conferences, weddings and funerals and more.
* It is possible to provide the work with various references that give exciting clues to the months of preparation that the conductor, choreographer, directors, singers and actors have undergone to enrich the experience of the work.
*Some participants were doubtful about whether this would be an attractive experience and wondered what new value would be created. Do people want to take the trouble to design their own experience or do they want to be awash in something ready-made?
*Another question was whether the new product will be a copy of a performance that can replace the real one or whether it will be a new art form that we currently have no knowledge of. The hope was that the new experience will be an opportunity to do something both creative and interesting.
- Today we have received some new proposals, including several on things that are not available to us in the traditional live experience. It can be about creating new social forums, providing a background and showing what was the inspiration behind the work, but also providing material that you cannot see as a normal audience — such as the conductor's face or films from the scenes, concludes project manager Jesper Larsson.
Participating partners of Kalaudioscope: LUDICH (Lund University Digital Interactive Concert Hall) with the Faculty of Arts, Lund University of Technology, School of Economics, Faculty of Law, Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Region Skåne, Malmö City, Lund Municipality, Helsingborg City, Axis Communications, Amazon Web services (cloud) Cinfo (software) Malmö Live/MSO (content) Malmö opera (content) Helsingborg arena & stage (content), On stage AI (software) CapGemini (UX) Ericsson (UX) Future by Lund (innovation) Adesso (Web).
