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Four Studer Vistas for Hungary’s New Arts Flagship Complex
The Palace of Arts is far more than a new addition to Budapest's entertainment scene; it is an arts complex that promises to change the landscape of Hungary's cultural life, boosting tourism at home and establishing the country's artistic credentials on the serious international circuit. Its technical specifications are world-class, and include four Studer Vista digital consoles filling a variety of different roles.
Opening just in time to celebrate the 2005 Budapest Spring Festival, the Palace of Arts covers a ground area of 10,000 sq.m. in southern Pest, adjacent to the National Theatre. The centrepiece of the Palace is the National Concert Hall, the largest of its kind in Hungary, seating 1700 with standing room for an additional 200. From the outset, the Hall was intended to be a truly top-quality space, distinguished by outstanding acoustics and equipped to welcome international orchestras and virtuosi. Its programming will also represent the wider scene of Hungarian culture, particularly its rich folk tradition.
The Palace cost over EUR130 million to build, funded by a private Budapest company, the TriGránit Development Corporation, under a unique PPP (Private-Public-Partnership) financial arrangement whereby TriGránit bears the costs of building the complex and then leases it back to the Hungarian government. Real estate tycoon Sándor Demján from TriGránit has been the driving force behind the Palace of Arts project, and apparently intends to use it as a template for building cultural and entertainment centres in other Central European cities, such as Sofia.
The Concert Hall itself sits in a huge internal structure, floating on steel and rubber springs. There are 66 resonant chambers around its walls, and a 40-ton canopy above the podium to ensure that the audience hears the performance perfectly. The American consultancy ARTEC and its director Russell Johnson were brought onboard to design the acoustics. Johnson's CV includes concert halls in Birmingham, Sao Paulo, Philadelphia, Lucerne and Singapore, yet he ranks the Palace extremely high on this distinguished list: “I would not be surprised if, in three years from now, the musicians of Europe may rate this hall in Budapest as the best concert hall in Europe.”
The Concert Hall is a tremendously flexible environment with adjustable side panels and a giant wooden baffle in the ceiling which can be raised or lowered. The venue is equipped with sophisticated sound reinforcement equipment for non-acoustic performances, typically jazz, including a Studer digital Vista 8 console which swings into operation at front-of-house.
Studer’s Vista consoles dominate the Palace’s technical inventory, the largest concentration of Vistas in an arts centre anywhere in the world. Although Studer receives most of the acclaim for their high-end digital consoles from the broadcast industry, more and more of them are being specified for applications in the world of live performance. Operational flexibility and versatility, together with an exceptionally user-friendly interface, are given as the reasons by chief engineer, Barnabas Kiss.
"Every day, different performers and technicians will come through our doors," explains Kiss. "Our primary criteria for choosing the equipment was that it must be easy to use for the people who'll be here with us for maybe just one show. Also for these reasons, we wanted one manufacturer to supply all our console requirements, so that all four mix positions in this building could be the same, not similar but the same."
Only Studer could deliver one package that could meet the mixing demands of two large live venues like the National Concert Hall and the 450-seat Festival Theatre, as well as the two magnificent recording studios attached to them. “Studer could give us a technical solution for recording as well as for PA, but really the choice was made because of the Vistonics interface,” says Kiss. “This system is so smart it could have been invented by Hungarians! Five minutes after sitting down in front of this desk for the first time, you can use it like a professional. At our opening ceremony, half of the Vista 8 was being used by the engineer producing a live mix for TV and radio; the other half of the same console was being used by another engineer to make a live recording of the event.”
BaSys Multimedia of Hungary has supplied the four Studer digital desks to the Palace. The Concert Hall has a mobile 32-fader Vista 8 located in its control room, which can be moved down to a position in the stalls. A 52-fader Studer Vista 8 has been sited in the adjacent studio for recording sessions. In the 450-seat Festival Theatre, a 52-fader Vista 8 digital console is installed at front-of-house, with a 40-fader Vista 7 installed in the adjoining recording studio.
The success of the Palace of Arts will be measured by the quality of international artists that it is able to attract. This year, as part of the Spring Festival, the venue has already hosted Zubin Mehta, Sergei Nakariakov, Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro. A look at the list for the rest of the year — Andras Schiff, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Alanis Morrisette, The Temptations and The Supremes — reveals the true depth and versatility of this most impressive facility.
19th April 2005
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