The technology behind Maria Callas' holographic concert.

In honor of the centenary of Maria Callas's birth, Australia has the opportunity to see this great Greek opera singer for the first time thanks to modern technology combined with the help of lookalikes and archival material.

The concerts are organized to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Callas' birth, and one performance has already taken place in Sydney last Saturday, with three others scheduled in Melbourne (December 7), Adelaide (December 9) and Perth (December 13).

The holographic concerts are supported by the European Union as part of a celebration of EU-Australia cultural relations, using holographic technology developed through a special agreement with BASE Xperiential and the Maria Callas legacy.

Photo''Holographs of the late opera singer Maria Callas performing during a concert at the National Auditorium in Mexico City in 2019.

Participants in the event were able to enjoy the art of Maria Callas (1923-1977) with a live orchestra thanks to cutting-edge technology that showcases the artist, who first appeared in Mexico in 1950, through holography as she sings, moves and interacts.

This complex process of creating a concert is accomplished through a number of factors and is not limited to the use of archival footage as many may think. Preparation for these concerts takes a huge amount of time - six to nine months - and one of the important steps is to record a double of a person working in front of an empty''background. This is done by using actors filmed in front of a green screen and mimicking the movements of Maria Callas based on recordings of her performances. They then capture the actors' movements and augment them with computer graphics (CGI) and other production techniques to produce a digital avatar of the subject, in this case Maria Callas, which is controlled by a motion tracking system.

A lot of work went into creating Callas' image, and not everyone pays attention to the fact that the latest technology is also used to recreate her voice. Modern programs allow vocal segments of her performances to be isolated from''orchestra and other singers, then combine them with digital and laser imaging to keep them in sync.

BASE Xperiential began introducing this concert five years ago in 2018, it was one of their first products in this exciting new area of entertainment.

The concert will take place in Melbourne this Thursday, December 7, at 6:30pm at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. Tickets are available at www.mso.com.au.