A website funded by the European Union (EU) will broadcast worldwide, live and for free, various opera performances presented by prestigious artistic companies – informs Reuters.

“La Traviata” opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi (about a doomed love between a courtesan and a young) will be broadcasted in live streaming for free from The Real Theater in Madrid on Friday. This cultural program is supported by The EU, which wants to make such performances more accessible to the public worldwide.

The Opera Platform (www.theoperaplatform.eu) is a three-year project with a total budget of almost 4 million, half of which is provided from the cultural budget of the European Union.

“The Opera Platform is an online portal with the main purpose to promote the work of various artists. It was created both for those who already love opera, and for those who might be tempted to discover the beauty of this music genre for the first time”, says the official communiqué issued by the EU.

Internet users worldwide will be able to watch the show on Friday evening in Madrid, and future transmissions of 15 other performances staged by European opera companies from 12 countries.

The Opera Platform will feature, on average, one live broadcast every month and the show will be available for watching online for six months. The shows will be subtitled in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

The site will provide the internauts with documentation, opera archives and information, and excerpts from opera productions in various countries in Europe.

The platform was founded by the EU’s Creative Program, in collaboration with Opera Europe – an association consisting of 155 opera companies and festival organizers such as Arte TV station and 15 other top-class opera companies.

Among future productions set to be broadcasted, worth mentioning the three-act opera “Król Roger” by Karol Szymanowski, staged at Covent Garden in London, and a live performance of “Twilight of the Gods” (“Götterdämmerung”), by Richard Wagner, staged at the Vienna Staatsoper.

The future schedule also includes:

• “Kullervo” by Jean Sibelius, Finnish National Opera in Helsinki
• “Valentina” by Arturs Maskats, the Latvian National Opera in Riga
• “The Abduction from the Seraglio” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Aix-en-Provence Festival in France