Figaro Systems

Figaro Systems, Inc. is an American company that provides seatback and wireless titling software and system installations to opera houses and other music performance venues worldwide. The company is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was established in 1993 
by Patrick Markle, Geoff Webb, and Ron Erkman and was the first company to provide assistive technology that enables individualized, simultaneous, multi-lingual dialogue and libretto-reading for audiences.
History.
Figaro Systems grew out of a conversation in 1992 among three opera colleagues: Patrick Markle, at that time Production Director of The [[Santa Fe Opera]], Geoffrey Webb, Design Engineer for the [[Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)|Metropolitan Opera House]] in New York, and Ronald Erkman, then a technician for the Met. At that time, opera houses had two options for the display of libretto and dialogue subtitles: projection onto a large screen above the stage or onto smaller screens throughout the theatre. Typically, the translation was in a single language.
The [[Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990]] had recently been enacted; Markle was trying to solve the problem of venues which lacked accessibility to patrons with disabilities, including the profoundly [[deaf]]. Markle, Webb, and Erkman devised the first [[prototype]] of a personal seatback titling device and [[John Crosby (conductor)|John Crosby]], then General Director of The [[Santa Fe Opera]], saw its potential for opera patrons. Markle, Webb, and Erkman were further reinforced by their understanding of technology’s role in remediating the physical barriers people encounter, worldwide, which frustrate or prevent their access to the visual performing arts. Markle, Webb, and Erkman applied for and were granted [[patent]]s for their invention.
Philanthropist and investor [[Alberto Vilar]] counted Figaro Systems among the companies in which he was a majority shareholder. He donated the company's [[electronic libretto]] system to European venues including the [[Royal Opera House]] in [[London]], La Scala's [[Teatro degli Arcimboldi]] opera houses in [[Milan, Italy|Milan]], Italy, [[Gran Teatre del Liceu]] in [[Barcelona, Spain|Barcelona]], Spain, and the [[Wiener Staatsoper]] in [[Wien]], [[Austria]]. As a consequence of his failures to pay promised donations, most of these companies lost money.
In 2005 the Met charged the New Mexico company with unlawfully using its name in advertising promoting its "Simultext, system which defendant claims can display a simultaneous translation of an opera as it occurs on a stage and that defendant represented that its system is installed at the Met.". The company cease its business activity in December 2016.
Products and technology.
The company’s products are known variously as seat back titles, [[surtitles]],
 [[electronic libretto]] systems, opera supertitles, projected titles, and libretto translations.
Opera venues have utilized the system to display librettos in [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]], [[Russian language|Russian]], and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
 although the software enables the reading of the libretto in any [[written language]].
 Translation is provided by one screen and delivery system per person.
Typically, but not in all cases, the system is permanently installed along the backs of rows of seats. Each screen is positioned so that the text is clearly visible to each user. The displays were initially available in [[vacuum fluorescent display]], ([[Vacuum fluorescent display|VFD]]) and, in 2000, [[liquid crystal display]], ([[LCD]]) was used. In 2004 the displays became available with [[organic light-emitting diode]], ([[OLED]]) screens. Each type of display provides the same text information and program annotation on eight channels simultaneously, may be turned off by the user, and is user-operated with a single button. The software is capable of supporting venues’ existing systems as well as Figaro Systems' "Simultext" system. The software enables cueing of each line as it is sung, and it appears instantly on the screen.
The company builds fully [[modular]] systems including its [[wireless]] [[handheld]] screens 
 for users who cannot use seatback systems, for example people in [[wheelchair]]s, who may be viewing the opera in areas lacking seatback viewing, or people with compromised eyesight.
Venues.
In the US, the company’s systems are in use in the [[Ellie Caulkins Opera House]] 
 in [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], Colorado, The Santa Fe Opera in Santa Fe, the [[Brooklyn Academy of Music]] the [[Metropolitan Opera]], New York, where it is called "MetTitles"), the [[Roy E. Disney]] Theatre in [[Albuquerque]]'s [[National Hispanic Cultural Center]], [[McCaw Hall]] in [[Seattle Washington]], the [[Opera Theatre of St. Louis]] in St. Louis, Missouri, the [[Des Moines Metro Opera]] in [[Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines]], Iowa and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Missouri.
In the UK and Europe, the systems have been installed in venues including the [[Royal Opera House]] in London, the [[Teatro alla Scala]] and La Scala's [[Teatro degli Arcimboldi]] opera houses in [[Milan, Italy|Milan]], Italy, the [[Gran Teatre del Liceu]] in [[Barcelona, Spain|Barcelona]], Spain, and the [[Wiener Staatsoper]] in [[Wien]], [[Austria]].
Awards.
In 2001, the company won the [[Los Alamos, New Mexico|Los Alamos]] Laboratories’ Technology Commercialization Award for its Simultext system.
In 2008, the company’s software was one of four finalists for the Excellence Award for Commercial Software awarded by the New Mexico Information Technology and Software Association.
References.
[[Category:Assistive technology]]
[[Category:Companies based in Santa Fe, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1993]]
[[Category:Information retrieval organizations]]
[[Category:Privately held companies based in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Software companies based in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Software companies of the United States]]