The infrastructure is integrated by a mc²36 console, compact stagebox I/O units and V__remote4 devices for transporting and processing video and audio signals, plus an update to the Nova73 high-definition core.

Lawo at Opera Zurich

Next season, the Zurich Opera House of Switzerland will rely on IP technology from Lawo to keep creating, even if it's in a socially distanced environment.

The need to find a solution for future performances became clear at the beginning of the 2020, once Switzerland's lockdown came into force on 15 March.

Lawo at Opera ZurichThat solution came in the form of a Lawo IP-based remote production facility, specially designed for WAN-based remote productions. The equipment includes an mc²36 console, compact stagebox I/O units and V__remote4 devices for transporting and processing video and audio signals, plus an update to the Nova73 high-definition core, already installed in the Opera House, adding Ravenna network and additional Ethernet SFP ports.

"While some departments, such as workshops and changing rooms, were able to continue working under the prescribed measures, The activities of the sound department were quite limited. We had to find a way to ensure effective testing operations and, Later, and offering opera performances, operetta and ballet of the usual high level for the 2020-2021 season", comments Oleg Surgutschow, Head of the Sound Department of the Opera.

As the orchestra pit was too small for the minimum distances required between musicians and choir members, they also had a space that made them perform too close, the Opera management decided that the only option was for both to use separate facilities, and the idea of transferring Bregenz's Floating Scenario Principle was born (Bregenz Floating Stage Principle) to the theatre.

Surgutschow and Fabio Luisi, General Director of Music of the Opera, and Michael Utz, Deputy Director of the Sound Department, sat down with the other specialists to sound out the implementation. Fabio Luisi was already a conductor at the Bregenz Film Festival, where for years audio and video signals as well as intercom signals have been transmitted through long-distance connections between the stage, The orchestra and the audience, so the concept was familiar.

"We had to adapt the Bregenz model to the needs of our house. The Bregenz Festival offers a long series of performances, while the Zurich Opera has a changing program with changing musicians and ensembles. The team has to be mobile, and we need to be able to make adjustments quickly and safely.", Utz explains.

Lawo V__remote4

Rethinking spaces

It was decided that the orchestra's rehearsal room on the Kreuzplatz in Zurich, one kilometer from the Opera House, I would have enough room for the orchestra and choir.

Coronavirus restrictions meant that delivery times for the chosen technology would be longer than usual, so time was of the essence to decide on the solution and acquire the necessary material.

The infrastructure for audio and video signals and their transmission, as well as peripherals, For example, 60 Microphones for musicians, each of which now occupies a single desk due to distance rules, and not the double desk that would normally be shared by two interpreters.

"The sound of the orchestra had to be played in the main hall, The video of the conductor's movements will be transmitted to the musicians, and communication between the stage had to be ensured, the orchestra rehearsal room and other technically relevant positions. This required a secure connection that could transmit audio and video signals without latency, and we decided to use two Ravenna streams, Giving 128 channels in both directions. For the transmission itself we rented a direct and redundant fibre optic connection from the city of Zurich, so that there is always a reserve line available", Surgutschow says.

Lawo at Opera Zurich

The company Tingo (AV-Architekten), located in Muri AG, already participated in the planning and integration of the system of the new Opera House building in 2014 and, again, were called upon to assist in the planning and evaluation of this new project.

Lawo presented a concept based on the experience gained from many other remote production projects. and, for the Opera House, it made sense to employ Lawo's new technology that would easily integrate with your previously installed equipment.

Lawo's setup includes a compact I/O stagebox, an all-in-one mixing console from 24 MC²36 faders and the V__remote4 for converting and transmitting AV signals, aa two-way four-channel Video over IP interface with four local SDI inputs and outputs, as well as other tools for production over the WAN.

An additional V__remote4 unit is located in the opera house, where a Lawo mc²56 mixing console, installed in 2018, was updated with a Ravenna interface and SFP on its Nova73HD core.

From Kreuzplatz, audio signals are transmitted via compact I/O, the mc²36 console and the V_remote4 to the Opera House, where another V__remote4 receives the signals. There, The MC²56 console mixes the sound and transmits it to the sound reinforcement system.

Conductors use cameras to guide the orchestra and choir, who are playing music on Kreuzstrasse. The infrastructure makes great use of the V_remote4's multi-viewer option, which allows the stage to be transmitted with the directors in a wide shot, with communication through a system Riedel Artist pre-installed.

The main task of the mc²36 console is to provide a mix of monitors for the director, but it is also used for parallel trials, individual sound checks and occasional sound recordings.

Wavefield synthesis is used in the theatre and Lawo consoles control 32 Possible listening positions. Large router allows 3D Sound SSW to be integrated (Spatial Sound Wave – Space Sound Wave) of the Fraunhofer IDMT for surround sound and room acoustic applications.

IDMT's Spatial Sound Wave technology enables object-based audio playback and, compared to conventional reproduction systems, offers for example an extended "sweet spot", plus the ability to create an audio production compatible with virtually any speaker configuration (currently, the Opera House employs 80 Speakers). Ten speakers in the orchestra pit form the front of the first wave, so that the sound of the orchestra is emulated there.

The total latency of 10 Ms (video) and 5 Ms (audio including emulation) requires almost no readjustment for synchronization.

The rehearsals of the HOuse Opera House, some of which have already been implemented as a performance that includes recording, transmission, Stage presence and sound reinforcement, have been very successful and promise a season 2020-2021 interesting and quality. The season premiere will take place on 20 September 2020 with the opera Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky, followed by “The Princess of Czárdás”, an operetta by Emmerich Kálmán.

For the Zurich Opera House, Lawo's remote production technology has not only helped overcome the distances required by COVID-19, but, using the workflows that are now possible with the Lawo team, it ensures that these distances disappear from the perceptions of both the performers and the audience who come to the Opera.


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by • 22 sep, 2020
• section: fully, audio, Case studies, control, outstanding, HIGHLIGHTED Case Study, Signal distribution, production