Case Study: Vienna State Opera achieves 4K UHD live streaming and global accessibility with AWS Elemental

An Immersive Operatic Experience in Ultra High-Definition

The Vienna State Opera, a 150‑year‑old cultural icon with one of the world’s largest opera and ballet repertoires, wanted to make sold‑out live performances available to national and global audiences but faced the technical challenge of recreating the live experience on screen. To do that it needed ultra high‑definition streaming with top‑tier picture quality, real‑time processing and a flexible, scalable architecture that could deliver to viewers with varied devices and bandwidth.

Partnering with Elemental (and ETAS), the opera deployed an Elemental Live, GPU‑powered encoding platform to stream 4K HEVC via MPEG‑DASH, combining feeds from nine HD cameras and a 4K source and producing adaptive‑bitrate streams for broad device compatibility. The debut 4K broadcast of Verdi’s Nabucco was a technical success, earning strong audience feedback, expanding accessibility, and positioning the Vienna State Opera as an early provider of regular UHD live content.

Vienna State Opera

Christopher Widauer

Director of Digital Development, Vienna State Opera