Maria Todaro
PHOSPHOR & MIXED SPACE STUDIOS and the making of a virtual TOSCA
Out of ashes rises the majestic phoenix. Like the mighty phoenix, we are emerging from the pandemic and re imagining performance in the modern world. We are innovating with our forward thinking partners, Phosphor and Mixed Space Media, to reinvent and renew the world of opera in the twenty-first century. Together, with trendsetting partners Jason Weible, Justin Corcoran and Chip Sineni, we are crafting an immersive performance event which honors the best traditions of opera while ambitiously modernizing the opera experience for both performers and audience.
This revolutionary project has been previewed in our drive-in production of Tosca in a Volumetric Reality Experience at the end of Act 1. This groundbreaking combination of live performance and virtual technology is simply not to be missed.
Kyle Albertson- Bass-Baritone in the role of Scarpia
About Mr. Albertson- Click here.
At the tipping point of the COVID-19 crisis, Jason Weible, a former lighting designer, event producer, and director for numerous experiential event agencies decided to make a pivot in his career due to the almost total shutdown of the live events industry.
Passionate about new technologies, Jason was introduced to a technology called the UnReal Engine, a platform used by game developers, cinematographers, and designers in the Live Events Industry.
Understanding its possibilities Jason explored partnerships with different game development professionals to find a way to recreate the missing connection of an industry that was on pause. Jason created his own company called Mixed Space Studios that focused on the fusion of live events and mixed reality solutions.
It was through this exploration that Jason was introduced to Justin Corcoran, CEO of Phosphor Games, a company that had been around for twelve years and included acclaimed games “Dark Meadows,” “Horn” and the worldwide hit VR Experience “The Brookhaven Experience.”
Together the two collaborated to find ways to integrate live events in the world of virtual technologies. As part of an introduction through a mutual friend Jason was introduced to Maria Todaro of the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice who had been exploring the idea of introducing the world of opera in a new virtual form.
In collaboration with Chip Sineni, the CTO of Phosphor Studios, a game designer of over 25 years leading projects from Paramount, NBC Universal, Warner Brothers, FOX/Disney, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Viacom, the presentation of Tosca that was seen is part of a larger collaboration that the group plans to work on with Maria in the future and is the first project formed under the new joint entity, MXD Presents.