Midas selected for Guangzhou Opera House
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Midas digital and analogue consoles have been installed throughout the Guangzhou Opera House, including multiple XL8 large-format digital desks. The purchase encompasses both the venue’s 1,800-seat Grand Theatre and its smaller 400-seat multipurpose venue.
An XL8 is now located within the control room of the Grand Theatre, handling front of house alongside a Heritage 2000, while a second XL8 has been supplied for monitoring. The smaller 400-seat multipurpose theatre now boasts a Pro6 digital console alongside a Verona eight-bus desk. A further two Venice 160 consoles have been installed within the venue’s rehearsal studio, with another in the newsroom.
Since the opera house opened, the Midas XL8 has been used for FOH on almost every live performance, including the opera Mulan, the opening ceremony of the 9th China Arts Festival, concerts by Chinese tenor Wang Hongwei, singer Zhu Zheqin, and the 2010 Chinese Film Awards.
Mr Zhou Xucun, FOH engineer at the Opera House, explained that the decision to opt for the Midas desks followed a long period of deliberation, though he eagerly professed himself an admirer of the brand. ‘I always recommend the XL8 to other sound engineers now,’ he enthused. ‘After simple training, visiting engineers can operate the system with ease, and without having to change their way of thinking to feel comfortable. The stability, flexibility and reliability combined with ease and familiarity are just amazing.’
Designed by London-based architect Zaha Hadid, the Guangzhou Opera House represents two boulder-like structures of different sizes, with a theatre located in each. Constructed from 12,000 tons of steel on a 70,000 sq-m site, is now one of China’s three biggest theatres. The venue has also recently adopted L-Acoustics sound reinforcement systems within its two auditoria alongside a Riedel digital intercom, as previously reported in Pro Audio Asia.