medici.tv offers new free app, discounts on subscriptions & holiday webcast

medici.tv is offering classical music lovers a free, brand new app for tablets and smart phones, allowing users to navigate through over 1,200 HD videos, including performances and documentaries, as well as access to over 100 live concert webcasts each year from top classical artists and music institutions around the world. As a special holiday discount, medici.tv is also offering up to 40% off subscription prices and gift cards through December 31. More details are available on the site’s subscription page.
 
Features of medici.tv’s new app include easy sorting of videos; the ability to search by title, performer, composer, etc.; and the opportunity to select the video quality best suited to one’s device. Users will not only have a virtual seat at one-of-a-kind concert experiences, but will also be able to easily share and recommend videos to friends via Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail, besides following the latest classical music news from around the world using medici.tv’s embedded Twitter timeline. Additional features of the new app include an “airplay” function that allows users to watch videos on any connected screen; a new video chaptering feature that offers easy browsing through videos; and access to account information and data on all smart phones or tablets. This new, free app is available now for iPhone or iPad and will be available for Android in January.
 
On November 26, violinist Joshua Bell opened his home for a special event: “Musical Gifts: Joshua Bell and Friends – Live from Joshua Bell’s New York Home.” This live webcast from a private residence was the first of its kind for medici.tv and will be available for streaming until January 31. Special guests including Renée Fleming, Michael Feinstein, Frankie Moreno, Rob Moose, and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City joined the violinist for performances of such holiday favorites as “An Old Fashioned Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” Let it Snow,” and “Silent Night.” Among the notable guests in attendance were actress Heather Graham, Maxwell, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis, photographer Antoine Verglas, Alex Lundqvist, Ghislaine Maxwell, Lisa Airan, Laurie Tisch, Scandal star Norm Lewis, Keith Lieberthal, and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.
 
As medici.tv founder Hervé Boissière recently explained to the Wall Street Journal, “We’ve done many concerts with [Joshua Bell] before, but in usual concert halls. It’s interesting for us to show a musician in his own home.” The WSJ feature continued: “To make the webcast happen, medici.tv sent a team of 15 people with five high-definition cameras to Mr. Bell’s apartment. ‘The shooting is adapted to the space,’ said Mr. Boissière.” GetClassical described the experience: “The eminent group of performers casually gathered around an antique Steinway grand piano in the center of Bell’s large, elongated living room, while the children of the Young People’s chorus sat decoratively along a candlelit staircase, leading to the rooftop terrace. The heartwarming performances included singers, pianists, and even a harpist, who all took turns partnering with Bell.”
 
Sponsored by medici.tv, WFYI Public Media, and Adrienne Arsht, this special event was featured in Harpers Bazaar’s December Hot List, and the New York Post’s Page Six. It is available for free streaming through the holidays until January 31.
 
About medici.tv
 
Critical praise grows for medici.tv with each passing month. The Toronto Star called the site “a seismic shift in the world of classical music,” while Classical Voice America described medici.tv as “the invaluable C-SPAN of classical music.” According to Alex Ross’s blog, The Rest Is Noise, “The hits keep coming at medici.tv.” Offering “treasures aplenty” was how Gramophone editor-in-chief James Jolly put it, naming medici.tv as one of the web’s best classical experiences.
 
Since its official launch in May 2008, medici.tv has gained international recognition, bringing together a community of 150,000 music and arts lovers from 182 countries – who have watched over 20 million videos to date. In addition to offering live concert hall events that music lovers can experience on their computers and entertainment systems, medici.tv now offers a free application (available at the Apple App Store and for the Android) that makes it possible to experience world-class artistry on iPads, iPhones and the Android. Consumers of Samsung Smart TVs can now access the medici.tv application worldwide in 170 countries since March 1, 2013, on the 2011, 2012 and 2013 models, as well as all future ones. More than 60 client universities globally use medici.tv, including Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.
 
In addition to webcasts of more than 100 live concerts each year, medici.tv has partnered with the world’s top artists and music institutions to offer subscriptions that give music lovers the opportunity to watch more than 1,200 video-on-demand programs. They include concerts, operas, recitals, documentaries, master classes, artist portraits and archival material by such legendary musicians as Maria Callas, Glenn Gould, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Arthur Rubinstein, Georg Solti and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
 
Reference opera productions are key to the medici.tv library, including Don Carlo at London’s Royal Opera House starring Rolando Villazón and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne conducted by William Christie. Also new to the library is archival footage of Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan and Vladimir Horowitz, alongside master classes by Alfred Brendel and James Conlon.
 
 
Watch medici.tv concerts on the iPhone with the free medici.tv App.
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medici.tv is produced by MUSEEC, in partnership with ROLEX.
 
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© 21C Media Group, December 2013