Opera Australia has announced the launch of  OA | TV: Opera Australia on Demand, a free online streaming service.

The new streaming service will feature exclusive content from its catalog that includes a number of performances by Joan Sutherland and a series of chat show style interviews called “In Conversation with Lyndon Terracini” and unique ‘behind the scenes’ footage. There will also performances from the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbor.

The platform will launch with Sutherland’s Hannah Glawari in the 1988 production of Franz Lehar’s “The Merry
Widow,” performed at the Sydney Opera House, directed by Lofti Mansouri and conducted by Richard Bonynge. There will also be a full length production of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s inaugural 2012 season of “La Traviata.”

The first installment of the “In Conversation with Lyndon Terracini” series with OA’s Concert Master Jun Yi Ma will also be released.

Then every week the platform will update with new performances and new conversations.

In a press release Terracini said, “Understandably it’s been devastating for everyone at the Company not being able to perform through this crisis, and we know our fans are missing us as much as we’re missing being on stage. We’ve actually been wanting to launch OA | TV for some time, and now we have the right digital platform and the time to develop it, so we can share not only our rich history with our fans, but also it’s an opportunity for them to meet some of our incredibly talented artists as well as some of the key people working behind the scenes, with a series of interviews we’re going to do. OA has an extensive archive of legendary operatic performances. We’ve got the largest collection of Joan Sutherland videos in the world, and it’s such a great honor to be able to share these gems with her fans.”