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HK Audio Brings Spectacular Sound to Opera Extravaganza Again
Walter Haupt’s spectacular production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana has embarked on a series of December dates throughout Europe, and the extravaganza is employing HK Audio’s Cohedra Coherent Dynamic Response Array system to deliver fittingly epic sound to the audience.
Cohedra has been a staple of the touring production since November 2003, but this year the main system is being supplemented by the brand-new Compact cabinets, which are being used as outfill units. These can be combined with the larger Cohedra system, allowing engineers to create one single mix for the main system and a near-fill or outfill centre array of Compacts.
An accomplished German director, composer, conductor and musician, Haupt has designed a production of Orff’s epic opera which combines high culture with entertainment to create an overwhelming audiovisual piece of art complete with dramatic and stirring soundtrack. It has captivated hundreds of thousands of people since its 1995 debut, becoming a mainstay of Europe’s largest venues. The 29 European dates throughout November and December see the massive production rolling through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, France, Spain and Portugal, with the 100th show since its debut taking place in Budapest. The stage architecture, with its light projections and pyrotechnics, creates a unique background for the show, which features 30 dancers in 300 different costumes, a choir, a large orchestra and soloists. The touring retinue, which includes two stages and two towers, takes to the road in 12 trucks, while the performers and crew travel on 15 tour buses.
The HK Audio sound system is configured in the same way throughout the whole tour, with the main PA consisting of 16 CDR 208 T and S mid/high units and six of the new CDR 210 F flyable subwoofer per side. Outfill is provided by eight Compact CDR 108 mid/high units per side. The system, powered by four HK Audio PR 16 amp racks, is configured as three arrays per side, with the CDR 208s on the inside, the subs in the middle and the CDR 108s on the outside. There is also a centre array of four to six CDR 208s to provide downfill.
Two VT 212 II F mid/high units from HK’s T-Series are being used as sidefill, one on each side of the stage. Again from the T-Series, 12 VT 108 very compact full range cabinets are being used on stage for monitoring for the choir, with two SM 112s, the smallest members of HK’s M-Series monitor range, on stage in the tower for the actors and dancers. Monitors are powered by two PR 24 amp racks.
The sound crew on the Carmina Burana tour consists of technical director Achim Lanzendorf, system engineers Martin Felber and Matthias Pelz, Gerd Drücker at FOH, Miriam Wernet as monitor engineer and Silvia Baumann, who is responsible for microphones, all of whom worked on the 2003 tour. The equipment is being supplied by German PA Company Klangschmiede.
16th December 2004
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