Opera Houses Find More Ways to Meet Fans Where They Are

歌劇院找到更多方法貼近粉絲
By Rebecca Schmid

Since the Metropolitan Opera began broadcasting live to movie theaters, in 2006, companies from the Bolshoi to the Komische Oper Berlin have seen digital distribution as crucial to positioning themselves internationally.

打從紐約大都會歌劇院2006年開始向各地電影院做現場轉播起，包括莫斯科大劇院、柏林喜歌劇院在內，許多劇院已將數位發行視為立足國際的重要管道。

Only a handful of players have the standing and resources to create for cinema, and many organizations in Europe turn to free web streaming, but never before have opera houses had such freedom to produce their own content.
只有少數幾個參與者擁有為電影院而創作的地位和資源。歐洲許多組織已轉向免費網路串流，而歌劇院此前從未擁有過這等創造自家內容的自由。

The Met broadcasts to cinemas in 70 countries. The Royal Opera House in London relays to cinemas in 51 countries, while the Paris Opera is present in movie theaters in 18 countries. The Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin recently transmitted a production of Verdi’s “Macbeth” to French cinemas and plans a live broadcast of one production next season (in 2018, the house also began streaming on its own website and in collaboration with broadcasting partners).
大都會歌劇院對70個國家的電影院轉播，倫敦皇家歌劇院和巴黎歌劇院則分別向51國及18國的的電影院轉播。柏林國立歌劇院最近把威爾第「馬克白」的一個製作版本播送到法國的電影院，並計畫下一季以另一製作做現場轉播。（該歌劇院2018年也開始在自家網站並與廣播業夥伴合作，提供串流服務。）

Institutions from the Glyndebourne Festival to the Salzburg Festival have partnerships with the online platform medici.tv, which in 2018 celebrated its 10th anniversary and has about 280,000 registered users. Stingray Classica officially starts within the network of Amazon Prime Video in June, featuring such organizations as the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Royal Opera House, while Opera Vision offers free streams from more than 20 houses across Europe.
包括英國格萊德邦歌劇節和奧地利薩爾茲堡音樂節在內的一些活動，主辦機構都和線上平台medici.tv有合作關係，此平台2018年慶祝成立10周年，目前約有28萬註冊用戶。「古典樂魟魚」6月正式開始在「亞馬遜優質影音」網路上線，主打馬德里皇家劇院和倫敦皇家歌劇院，而「歌劇視野」則提供歐洲各地20多間歌劇院的免費串流影音。

The flood of offerings is a result of reduced coverage on public television, an unstable recording industry and the low cost of producing for the web. While a cinema broadcast involves video methods that are more sophisticated than even those of television, a typical stream can be executed with about a third of production costs.
內容提供如排山倒海而來，是公共電視減少播出，錄音產業不穩定，以及網路製作成本低廉的結果。在電影院裡播映用到的影音方法比電視播出還要複雜，標準的串流卻只消三分之一的製作費用便可做到。

“Streaming is really about access and visibility,” said Peter Maniura, project director, classical archive and orchestras digital strategy, at BBC Music. “The vast majority of organizations” have not tried to monetize their product, he said, “for the simple reason that there are very few with sufficient scale and impact to actually be able to make money.”
「串流實際上和接近性及能見度有關。」英國廣播公司音樂電台的古典檔案及管弦樂團數位策略專案主任彼得．馬紐拉說。「絕大多數的組織」都沒有嘗試把他們的產品轉換成財源，他說，「理由很簡單，規模和影響力大到可實際賺到錢的少之又少。」

He distinguished between a “tradition which the Met started for high-quality cinema experience” and the “public service space” – which was traditionally in television and has now in part migrated to the internet – where viewers expect to have free content. “The major players have been in a position for a number of years,” said Maniura, citing as examples the Met, the Royal Opera or La Scala in Milan. “It’s hard for a midscale house to match that.”
他把兩者做了區分，一個是「由大都會歌劇院所開創的高品質影廳體驗傳統」，另一則為「公共服務空間」，後者傳統上在電視上播放，現已部分轉移至網路，觀眾期待能免費觀賞。「大咖們都已站穩腳步好些年了。」馬紐拉舉大都會歌劇院、倫敦皇家歌劇院和米蘭斯卡拉大劇院為例說，「中等規模的歌劇院難與匹敵。」

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/arts/opera-live-broadcast-streaming.html

2019-05-19．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析．莊蕙嘉

說文解字看新聞 莊蕙嘉

本文介紹世界知名的歌劇院開始嘗試新的播放管道，也就是時下最夯的streaming（串流）。以前欣賞古典音樂或歌劇，並非人人都有預算飛到紐約、倫敦或巴黎觀賞現場演出，大多是買CD或DVD，另一重要管道就是各國公共電視播放的節目。

broadcasting（廣播）最早指透過傳播媒介，將影音內容傳送給受眾的過程，其中最主要的媒介是電視。從類比訊號到數位訊號，隨著科技進步，電視訊號處理更多更快，畫質也更細緻。

現在更流行的是串流，將內容資料壓縮後，透過網路不間斷地分段傳送封包資料。觀眾不用下載整個容量龐大的檔案，透過網路連線就能觀看，也常稱作web streaming（網路串流）。又因為串流最常應用於影音傳輸，所以也常見video streaming一詞。

文中提到的Stingray Classica和medini.tv都是專營古典音樂串流服務的公司，在官網、手機app和YouTube提供串流訂閱服務。提供音樂的Spotify和播放影集的Netflix，亦是知名的串流平台。

Are You Ready for Drive-Thru Botox?
注射肉毒桿菌素 得來速也行
By Courtney Rubin

There’s nothing secretive about getting Botox and fillers at Ject in the West Village.
在紐約西村地區Ject注射「保妥適」肉毒桿菌素和填充劑，沒什麼好遮掩的。

The 3-month-old injectable beauty bar has a glass front with its name hand-painted in 23-karat gold. Treatment spaces are separated only by curtains. There’s a photo booth, with a swirly gold, black and green mural that incorporates the company name, for customers who want to show off their freshly filled faces on social media. As the company recently Instagrammed: “Adieu, Taboo.”
這家注射美容酒吧開幕三個月，玻璃正面用23克拉黃金手繪店名。治療空間只用簾幕分隔。有個自拍站，掛著一幅金、黑、綠三色成渦旋形伸展寫出店名的壁畫，提供給想上社群媒體炫耀自己新填充臉龐的顧客。就像這家店最近在Instagram上宣傳的：「跟忌諱說掰掰。」

Indeed.
確實如此。

In 2018, injections of Botox – the No. 1 aesthetic procedure since 1999, according to according to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery – were up 16.3% from the year before. Fillers were up 12% in the same time frame. Both procedures require regular top-ups.
根據美國美容整形外科學會的資料，注射保妥適從1999年以來一直是最熱門的美容療程。2018年，注射保妥適的人次比前一年增加16.3%，同一時間，注射填充劑的人次增加12%。兩種療程都需定期施打。

With that popularity comes, almost inevitably, a wave of places that specialize in these injections, aiming to make them as accessible (walk-ins welcome!), acceptable and fun (in name, if not in needle) as a Drybar blow-dry.
隨著注射保妥適的高人氣而幾乎不可避免地出現的，是一波專門從事這類注射的地方，目的是讓這種注射像美國連鎖吹髮沙龍Drybar的吹髮造型服務一樣，平易近人（沒預約也歡迎！）、廣受認可和好玩（就算不在注射針上，也是在名義上）。

“Injectables don’t need to be scary, and they don’t need to be done in a secret garage,” said Gabrielle Garritano, a physician assistant and a founder of Ject. The curtains, she said, were a choice, to make the place feel more salon, less medical office – and so clients may see others getting injected.
醫師助理、Ject創辦人嘉布瑞兒．葛里塔諾說：「注射劑不須讓人害怕，注射也不須在秘密車庫裡完成。」她說，選擇簾幕是要讓人覺得這個地方比較像沙龍，不太像診間，如此一來，客戶可以看到別的客戶注射。

“You see people getting their hair blown out,” she said, as if the two are equivalent.
她說，「就像你看到別的設計師幫客人吹頭髮」，彷彿兩件事差不多。

Ject – the short name was chosen, in part, so it would look better on the forthcoming booking app – has plenty of competition. At Plump, in Chelsea, which is designed to look like a bistro, with dark wood floors, bar stools and a tea bar (serving anti-inflammatory elixirs), patrons can choose the $1,099 “Instaready Cheeks” or $240 “Goodbye Gummy Smile.”
選擇Ject這個簡短店名，部分原因是要讓它在即將上線的預約應用程式上看起來更棒。Ject競爭對手不少。紐約雀兒喜地區Plump設計得像法式餐酒館，有暗色木地板、酒吧高腳凳和提供消炎酏劑的茶吧，顧客可選擇1,099美元的「IG隨時上鏡臉蛋」，或240美元的「露齦笑掰掰」。

Alchemy 43, which has four cucumber-and-lime-scented locations in Los Angeles, opened in the Flatiron neighborhood on April 24. The company, which says it has raised more than $5 million in funding, including from the Drybar founders, provides clients with fruit-garnished sparkling water in Champagne flutes (preprocedure alcohol is not recommended), and has a granite tabletop co-working space in the lounge. (À la Drybar, Alchemy also offers memberships.)
在洛杉磯有四個洋溢小黃瓜與萊姆香氛據點的「煉金術43」，4月24日進軍紐約熨斗商業區。這家公司宣稱募到500萬美元，包括Drybar創辦人的資金，讓客人享用裝在細長香檳杯的水果裝飾氣泡水（不建議療程前飲酒），休息區還有花崗岩桌面的共同工作空間。（煉金術跟Drybar一樣設有會員制。）

And BotoxLabb (the double Bs stand for “beauty bar”), a sea-foam-green-bathed chain based in Miami from the founders of the 1990s makeup brand Joey New York, is eyeing New York after introducing sea foam green outposts in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Los Angeles.
還有BotoxLabb（兩個b是指「美容酒吧」），以海水泡泡綠為標誌色的連鎖體系，總部設在佛州邁阿密市，由1990年代美妝品牌「紐約．祖兒」創辦人創設，在亞利桑納州斯科茨代爾鎮和洛杉機成功建立海水泡泡綠灘頭堡之後，準備向紐約進發。
The company says that most of its clients are younger than 35, and many say they like the atmosphere of these places, and the focus on injectables.
這家公司說，客戶多半不到35歲，許多人說喜歡注射美容酒吧的氣氛和對美容注射的專精。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/style/botox-beauty-bars.html

2019-05-19．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析．李京倫