Officially known as the Zakaria Paliashvili Tbilisi State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Georgia’s Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre has re-opened its doors following a comprehensive six-year refurbishment – including that of its audio infrastructure.
The project – which began in March 2013 – was handled by German systems integrator Salzbrenner media, and includes sound mixing, routing and comms.
Founded in 1851, the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre is widely regarded as the leading venue in the Caucasus. Following a series of fires, the restored building reopened after five years of reconstruction and found difficult times awaiting after Georgia independence in the 1990s. with equipment ageing, it was closed and gutted as part of a full refurbishment, and is now equipped with technology to support future productions. Salzbrenner media managed the planning, outfitting and installation of the audio, video and stage management equipment.
After six years work the building has been restored to its former glory, and the technical systems have been almost completely renewed. The project was financed by Cartu, a fund owned by Georgian tycoon and former Prime Minster Bidzina Ivanishvili, the man who formed the Georgian Dream coalition.
Stage management control has progressed a great deal in recent years, and the Tbilisi opera house now has an extensive stage management system from the Salzbrenner PerformanCeTRL product line. This comprises components from the Delec’s oratis intercom series, including a Talk 16 subscriber unit, and provides all audio functions and extensive logic programming, while Salzbrenner MediaControl handles the control – a symbiosis which also deals with the signals for the many cue lights labelled in Georgian characters. Wireless radio and party-line intercom is based on a combination of Riedel, Motorola and Telex components, all controlled by the Delec and MediaControl systems.
A video infrastructure with two Panasonic cameras, interfaced with SDI, routing processing and monitor screens complements the stage management system.
Audio mixing in the main auditorium is taken care of by a 42-fader StageTec Auratus mixing console in the sound control room connected via a Nexus audio network with four Base Devices and a total of 77 I/O cards. 5.1-channel audio monitoring was installed alongside TFT displays from LG, a custom-made control desk and 30U-high rack cabinet by Salzbrenner media’s mechanical engineering department, and multimedia equipment including recording and playout units.
In addition to the main stage and auditorium, a number of rehearsal stages and rooms have also been equipped with mobile and self-powered KS Audio full-range speaker systems, three Tascam compact 16-channel analogue audio mixers and dynamic microphones from beyerdynamic.
Installation work in historic buildings always presents particular problems. Careful selection of equipment and thoughtful siting is essential to avoid detracting from the architectural aesthetic. For this reason, subwoofers are located in the orchestra pit and 16 KS line array loudspeakers along with two Seeburg column loudspeakers (curved cylindric wave), which are as unobtrusive as possible, are used for reinforcement.
Alongside the audio and video cabling an extensive data network for general-purpose signal distribution as well as control of all relevant system components – including the sound reinforcement system, wireless systems – was also installed.
For external productions (OB van/broadcast) additional video distribution has been added, based on a Triax cable network.
The performance that marked the venue’s reopening was Abesalom and Eteri, by the Georgian composer Zacharia Paliashvili – a symbolic choice since a piece from this opera was adapted for the Georgian National Anthem in 2004.
With this lavish refurbishment and a modern, solid technical infrastructure Tbilisi Opera is now prepared to write the next chapters in its story.
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