New York, NY and London, England, August 20, 2009
The London Symphony Orchestra, one of the world’s leading orchestras, has partnered with Kaltura, (http://www.kaltura.com), developer of the first open source online video platform, to use online video for a wide range of the orchestra’s activities and programs.
“In today’s day and age, online video is really a must for any serious player in the music and entertainment world,” said Joanne Johnson, Online Marketing Manager at the London Symphony Orchestra. “Kaltura’s platform was really the only option for us due to its flexibility and wide breadth of functionality that enables us to launch both “basic” video publishing features as well as advanced interactive features for online-education and training purposes”.
The Orchesta’s global audience can now watch interviews with players and conductors as well as enjoy behind the scenes footage on lso.co.uk, powered by Kaltura. The Orchestra plans to soon use Kaltura’s online video platform to broadcast select concerts and to conduct video classes online. Kaltura’s interactive features will also be included in ‘Remix the Orchestra’, part of the LSO’s community and education program LSO Discovery, in which students would be able to remix the Orchestra’s CDs and videos.
“It’s an honor to be working with a leading musical powerhouse such as the London Symphony Orchestra,” said Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura. “We were delighted to find a team of true innovators and influencers with out-of-the-box ideas and plans to not only publish video, but also to contribute to society and get people involved with forward-thinking programs. This is a great example of the real power of interactive online video.”
About The London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading orchestras. Its many activities include an energetic and ground-breaking education and community program, a record company (LSO Live), and exciting work in the field of information technology. Over a century after it was formed, the LSO still attracts the best players, many of whom also have flourishing solo and chamber music careers. The LSO also draws on an enviable roster of soloists and conductors, starting with Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev, LSO President Sir Colin Davis, and Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas as Principal Guest Conductors. LSO St Luke’s, the UBS and LSO music education centre on Old Street, continues to expand its artistic program with top artists from diverse musical backgrounds, and LSO Discovery is facilitating music education using new technology, and building stronger links with the local communities. LSO Live is the best-selling orchestral own-label in the world and is regularly No. 1 in the classical downloads charts on iTunes. Continuing the orchestra’s long association with film music, the LSO has recorded soundtracks for and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The orchestra also features on radio, TV, computer games and in-flight music programs. For more information, visit http://lso.co.uk.
About Kaltura
Kaltura provides the world’s first Open Source Online Video Platform. With more than 35,000 active publishers, Kaltura’s flexible framework empowers any site with advanced video functionality. Founded in 2006, Kaltura’s open source code is available as a free Software Development Kit and as downloadable packages for leading platforms – such as Drupal, WordPress, MindTouch, Moodle and MediaWiki. Kaltura also provides supplementary paid services including maintenance, support, integration, professional development, streaming and hosting, ad serving, content syndication, and aggregation of related third party services. Since its public launch, New York-based Kaltura has won numerous awards, such as Microsoft and TheMarker’s ‘Most Promising Start-up in Israel’ for 2009, TechCrunch40 People’s Choice award, Mashable’s ‘Open Web’ award, AlwaysOn’s top 250 global company and top 100 media company awards, and TV Week’s 5 Video Startups to Watch in 2009. For more information, visit www.kaltura.com.