LoLa:
Playing Together at the Speed of Light

LoLa makes it possible to:

• Conduct remote masterclasses and music courses.
• Perform with artists and audiences distributed across different locations.
• Increase the number of rehearsals before an in-person concert.

With LoLa, the distance in live events is eliminated, broadening the concept of space and making real-time performing arts more sustainable in terms of both time and cost. Most importantly, it opens up new and unexplored opportunities for performances, introducing fresh challenges and possibilities. This is the realm of networked performing arts—the fusion of performing arts (such as dance, music, and theatre) with advanced networking technologies

The LoLa system is a project developed by the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste in collaboration with GARR. The project originated in 2005, following the demonstration of the first intercontinental viola masterclass between Pisa, during the GARR conference, and the New World Symphony Academy in Miami (USA).

LoLa’s first public performance took place in 2010, featuring a four-hand piano recital between the Tartini Conservatory in Trieste and IRCAM in Paris. Today, the system is installed in numerous institutions worldwide, all connected to their respective national research and education networks.

The project’s research and development team includes:

• Massimo Parovel (Supervisor)
• Paolo Pachini (Coordinator)
• Stefano Bonetti (Current Designer and Lead Software Engineer since 2012)
• Carlo Drioli (Previous Designer and Software Engineer)
• Nicola Buso (Former Sound Engineer and Musical Consultant) from the Tartini Conservatory
• Claudio Allocchio (Network Engineer and Tester) from GARR

LoLa is licensed software available free of charge for all academic and non-profit educational purposes. For other uses, it is distributed under a shareware licence, with contributions supporting the project. For licences and further information, contact us via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To use LoLa, you will need specific hardware, which the LoLa team can recommend, and a stable, high-performance network connection between sites, with a minimum bandwidth of 1 Gbps.