Musical telebridge across continents: Prague and Vienna played for Hong Kong

Saturday 19 October was an important day for our colleagues from the Network Application Technology Department. They were responsible for one of the largest low-latency broadcasts, connecting musicians in Prague with musicians in Vienna and broadcasting the concert to the other side of the globe, to a music festival in Hong Kong.

The broadcast featured a total of 14 musicians - seven in Prague and seven in Vienna. Although they were separated by more than 250 kilometres as the crow flies, the delay was only 6 ms, which is equivalent to a sound delay of two metres. This allowed for a perfect harmony that was appreciated by the audience in Hong Kong, 8770 km away. The sound of all the instruments was transmitted separately between all the locations, so that the sound reproduction could be adapted to the individual spaces.

The Hong Kong Music Festival was organised by the local Chopin Society, led by Ms Anabella Levin-Freris and Mr Andrew Freris. The link with Prague and Vienna was initiated by the Chopin Society. Thanks to this, the audience of the festival could get acquainted with European classical music pieces performed by Czech and Viennese musicians. Prof. Johannes Meissl from the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna (MDW) and Irvin Venyš from the Society of Concert Artists in Prague participated in the preparation of the concert programme.

Preparations for this demanding event took place three days in advance, when one of our meeting rooms was transformed into a rehearsal room. In addition to the musicians, our technical team was also preparing for the Saturday broadcast.

This unique Prague-Vienna-Hong Kong connection was made possible thanks to our MVTP (Modular Video Transmission Platform) technology, which enables multi-point audiovisual connections with a minimum delay of just a few milliseconds. This means that musicians can perform together and play as one ensemble, even if they are separated by hundreds or thousands of kilometres.

Projects like this are proof of how technology can foster creativity and open up new possibilities for collaboration around the world. We are happy to be part of them.