MUSIC

Officials of the Royal Opera in London announced Wednesday that an experiment with “surtitles”--projecting English translations of foreign operas above the stage--was a hit and will continue during its 1987-88 season. Surveys conducted after translations were provided for operas sung in Czech and German last season showed 80% of the audience thought it increased their understanding of the opera, music director Bernard Haitink said at a news conference. Surtitles were first used in Toronto in January, 1983, by the Canadian Opera Company and have since been used by opera companies in the United States, West Germany and Australia.