Opera festival tunes into Wi-Fi

802.11b-flat

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Wireless, 17th May 2004 15:37 GMT

Free webcast: Service level monitoring and management

UK-based WISP The Cloud is to equip the Glyndebourne opera festival with "flexible and discreet" wireless Internet access.

The posh person's answer to Glastonbury, Reading or the Monsters of Rock festivals opens on Thursday with a rendition of Mozart's Die Zauberflote.

It's hard to imagine anyone sneaking off mid-performance for a crafty email check or to catch up with El Reg, but it could prove a hit during the champaign-fuelled interval.

Glyndebourne runs through to 29 August and will feature performances of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Handel's Rodelinda, Bizet's Carmen, Janácek's Jenûfa, and The Miserly Knight and Gianni Schicchi by Rachmaninov and Puccini, respectively.

In addition to a Wi-Fi enabled notebook or PDA, attendees will need to bring along "evening dress (black tie/long or short dress)" to meet to festival's strict dress code.

Prices range from £10 for a space to stand in, up to £150 for one of the plusher seats.

The Cloud has installed access points in the opera house, one near to the Press Office - the service is in part pitched at music hacks attending the event; 'a lap what?' dear boy - and the Jani Room, for more elevated attendees. ®