Bayreuth Festival, Choir transmission

Due to covid regulations it was impossible for the choir to sing on stage during the Bayreuth Festival 2021. The festival management decided after two test setups to divide the choir into a singing and an acting part. Individually separated by foil cabins the singing part was recorded with nearly 40 microphones in the choir rehearsal room and transferred in real-time into the Festspielhaus. With loudspeakers around the proscenium as well as on stage the 3D audio algorithms of Vivace have been used to position and move around the voices on stage, matching the positions of the voiceless acting second part of the choir. Optimizing the possible loudspeaker positions for Tannhäuser, Meistersinger and Holländer and tuning the system during the rehearsals was a fascinating and absolutely pleasing task. A very natural, transparent and precisely localisable choir was the reward for an incredible amount of work of the whole sound department, the numerous involved members of other technical departments and of course the choir members under director Eberhard Friedrich.

Consultancy on behalf of Müller-BBM