Winspear Opera House

While patrons have no trouble hearing professional opera singers from almost every seat in an opera house, amplification (“voice lift”) is sometimes required for other performances that take place on an opera house stage.

The amplification of musical theater and other performances can swamp the acoustics crafted into an opera hall – unless the performance sound system is properly designed.

Because the mere presence of voice lift or performance sound systems in an opera house isn’t acceptable in the opera community, a hidden voice-lift system and retractable music system were specified by Theatre Projects Consultants and Engineering Harmonics. Loudspeaker arrays were concealed in the walls of the proscenium arch and aimed at precise angles using digital signal processing to inconspicuously cover the five seating levels.

Low latency was also crucial in the design of the opera house’s digital audio network so the loudspeaker array didn’t behave unpredictably.

Project Team Award Winners:
Engineering Harmonics, Inc.
Clair Brothers Systems
Foster + Partners

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