Supercharge performances with added content.

Enrich performances with content, for live venues, streaming and recording.

Integrate subtitles, text, and other media with music and speech.

Enable multiple displays and views on demand.

Refresh web content dynamically and remotely, in real time.

contexts.live in the Media

 

The Big Idea | Te Ariā Nui — Breaking The Language Barrier

The Guardian — New Zealand Opera to provide braille surtitles for live performances

New Zealand TV — NZ Opera adds braille surtitles in inclusivity move

RNIB Connect — Braille Surtitles, a Real Game Changer for Blind and Partially Sighted Opera Fans

What makes us different?

We intelligently align audio with other media to make responsive content.

We can deliver timely text to be rendered on personal braille devices.

Text can be delivered on personal devices in the chosen language of the user.

Our cues can be manually triggered. But they can also be auto-aligned in real time, using our AI technology.

Our Mission

To enhance the performance experience by integrating content.

Our Vision

We started with live streaming subtitles.
Our technology now integrates all kinds of content,
in venues and on screen, to enhance the performance experience.

We increase reach, accessibility and flexibility
for performing arts organisations and content providers.

Audiences are global as well as local, speaking many languages.
The breadth of contexts.live increases engagement,
raises profiles and maximises accessibility for audiences far and wide.

Portfolio


Live Opera

A stage performance with a large ensemble cast in front of a painted backdrop of a small red station building. Many performers wear masks, hats, and bright costumes, including yellow outfits and umbrellas labeled “Whakāora” and “Whakaute AA.” Above the stage, white surtitles read: “I know now that it’s you I want, no one but you.”

Surtitles in the Theatre


A woman in a red jacket sits in a theater with rows of red upholstered seats, using a portable electronic Braille display placed on the armrest in front of her. She is focused on reading with her fingers as the Braille dots refresh on the device.

Our braille option in use

A person holds a smartphone displaying the website contexts.live, with Chinese text in bright green on a black screen that reads “每个人都喜欢!” (“Everyone likes it!”). The person’s fingernails are painted red, and they are wearing a navy blue top with large white polka dots. Another person with dark curly hair is seated beside them, slightly out of focus.

Using personal translated surtitles


Streaming

A webpage from contexts.live displaying Mozart’s Idomeneo (K.366). The left column lists details: “Idomeneo,” librettist G. Varesco, composer W.A. Mozart (1756–1791), Glyndebourne Festival Opera, date 1965-05-07. The highlighted link is No. 21 - Quartetto. The center column shows the Italian libretto text of No. 21 – Quartetto, beginning with “Andrò ramingo e solo…”, with some lines in red. The next panel displays the musical score. On the right, an embedded YouTube video preview shows the cover of a Mozart recording of Idomeneo, with subtitles in Korean below.

Controlling the Subtitles


A woman in a light grey lace top and pleated skirt sings beside a grand piano in a decorated hall with fairy lights and an organ in the background. German surtitles at the bottom read: “Will er bleiben, so hat er Ort, Freut’s ihn nimmer, so geht er fort.”

Oxford Lieder Festival 2021


Live subtitles for streaming

 

A livestream performance on the Fisher Center website shows two performers standing on stage at music stands, one in a white dress and the other in a grey suit. White subtitle text at the bottom reads: “What you’re like when you talk, when you laugh, when you frown.” The website header displays the Fisher Center logo and navigation links.

Surtitles in a Live Stream

A livestream video player on contexts.live shows baritone Benjamin Appl performing at Wigmore Hall, standing beside a grand piano in a dark suit and white shirt. German surtitles at the bottom read: “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, Als alle Knospen sprangen,”. In the lower right corner, a picture-in-picture window displays a sign language interpreter, with two alternating views of the interpreter signing. The page heading reads “contexts.live: an introduction.”

Sign language cues, in real time

What audiences say

“It felt like I was really included ... It was magic."
New Zealand Opera --- Paul Brown, braille user

"The subtitles were brilliant"
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

"much needed! thank you"
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

"Very nice example of something that can be better online than in a 'real' concert."
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

"Please keep offering the multi-lingual subtitles."
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

"It enhanced my experience and understanding"
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

"The subtitles help one to concentrate on the singer and the text."
Oxford Lieder Festival patron

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Services

What we offer


Reach

We specialise in precisely synchronised content display, dynamically and responsively aligned with live performance. We enable multilingual translation display for the spoken and sung word, aligned with millisecond accuracy. These features extend the reach of your artistic output to new audiences, globally, in real time. Click here for a demonstration of our innovative technology.

Accessibility

We provide enriched experiences through embedding sign language videos, text commentary and descriptive commentary, as text, audio or video. Increasing the accessibility of your artistic output means that diverse audiences can engage with your work in meaningful, inclusive experiences.

Scalability

Our unique alignment technology means that, once content is cued-up in our repository, all further live or recorded performances of the same work leverage that investment. For the first time, unnecessary and redundant labour is replaced by a powerful, scalable knowledge base of the repertoire, with cost savings and efficiency.



We are

Creative

Founded by the music tech entrepreneur and conductor Brad Cohen, and the technologist Hugh Glaser, our team bridges the divides between performance, text and tech. Our technology benefits from the cross-disciplinary approach espoused in our enterprises to date, including Seme4, Tido Music and Libmus.

Innovative

Our technology applies existing live-tracking knowledge to a new domain – performance. We use dynamic time warping algorithms to align with live performance, in real time – but with minimal intervention.

Engaged

Skilled and experienced in large-scale concert and theatrical production, performance and technical execution, our team will support you every step of the way towards realising the power of our solution in your artistic output. We are passionate about making a better experience for audiences through enriching performance contexts.

Pricing Tiers

You can mix and match as your needs change. Talk to us for more information.

Circle

You choose your preferred display styles

You add your texts to a simple spreadsheet

In the performance, you simply tap to cue

Content is transmitted live,
locally and online

Your cues are available for future re-use

from £100

per performance

AI Stalls

You choose your preferred display styles

You add your texts to a simple spreadsheet

You align cues with a reference recording

In the performance,
we align your cues automatically

Content is transmitted live,
locally and online

Your cues are available for future re-use

Annual licence

AI Box

You choose your preferred display styles

We prepare all cues and alignment for you

We run your performance,
on location or remotely

Content is transmitted live,
locally and online

Your cues are available for future re-use

License

Contact

Contact us and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.

Southampton, UK & Auckland, NZ

contact@contexts.live