Pavarotti Sings Again: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Active Preservation of the Audio Collection at theArena di Verona

This article presents the results of the research project REVIVAL (2009–2012), aimed at the development of a hardware/software platform to support the preservation of the audio collection of the Fondazione Arena di Verona, with a special attention on protocols and tools for quality control. The most significant achievements of the project are (i) the set up of a working environment inside the archive; (ii) the knowledge transfer to the archival personnel; (iii) the realization of chemical analyses on magnetic tapes; (iv) the development of software tools. On the cultural side: the recovery of unique copies of unpublished live recordings of artists the caliber of Domingo and Pavarotti.