100th Spotlight at Stanford exhibit published

We are thrilled to announce the publication of the 100th Spotlight at Stanford exhibit! Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres was created and published by Ray Heigemeir of the Stanford Music Library, with selected customizations supported by Chris Beer of Digital Library Systems and Services’ Access Team.

This exhibit is notable in its own right, as it consists of a metadata database rather than a showcase of images, audio or video. The data was originally compiled by Richard Parrillo from many sources and presented to Stanford as From Don to Giovanni: Opera and Oratorio Citation Database. In 2015 it was converted to a standalone website and rechristened Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres. As with other standalone websites, Stanford Libraries has moved to migrate these sites to Spotlight at Stanford where possible, to maximize sustainability and consolidate technical support.

Opening Night! is a cross-index of data for over 43,000 opera and oratorio premieres that received a public performance between the years 1589 and the present. Music Library staff and graduate assistants continue to populate the site with both the latest and the most obscure data on world premieres. Faceted entries include composer, librettist, literary source, premiere date, city, region, and country.

Searches can list operas and oratorios in response to a variety of queries, such as: How many operas did Mozart write, and when and where did they premiere?  Which oratorios are based on the writings of Metastasio? Which operas premiered in Berlin between 1850 and 1880?

Please join us in congratulating Ray and Chris on this notable publication milestone. We look forward to celebrating the publication of 100 Spotlight at Stanford exhibits with a special event, featuring several guest exhibit creators including Stanford faculty — when we can be together again in person.