Wuppertal June 17, 2023
Welsh National Opera upgrades with Riedel BoleroPrestigious opera company stays in tune on tour with wireless solution from Riedel
Based in Cardiff's landmark Wales Millennium Centre, Welsh National Opera (WNO) is one of the most prolific operatic ensembles in the UK, with a national and international touring schedule that consists of an average of 120 performances per year. In need of a new in-house communication system, WNO recently invested in a full Riedel Bolero digital wireless intercom system, specified by Autograph Sound.
We spend around 5-7 weeks, twice a year, at our home in the Millennium Centre, producing our operas. From there, we head off on tour for around 7 weeks at a time, explains Benjamin Naylor, Head of Lighting and Sound at WNO. We're on the move a lot and require a communication system that works for us, not against us.
Prior to the upgrade, the team at WNO were using an outdated digital wireless system, which had served them well for around 7 years but had run its course as upgrade requirements and maintenance began to incur considerable costs. The old system was liable to a lot of interference on the line, and from a health and safety point of view we needed a system that provided clear communication, explains Naylor. Range is also important for us - our team covers a lot of ground.
Autograph recommended a wireless system from Riedel, a clear choice that fitted WNO's critical needs. Welsh National Opera stressed the fact that they wanted a system that was quick and efficient to set up when they go on tour, explains Nacho Lee, UK Sales Manager at Riedel. Clarity of communication was the second most important requirement. Riedel Bolero ticks several boxes for systems that move around a lot: clear communication, ease of use and incredible range, no matter the venue. So, we recommended Bolero.
The system was commissioned in August 2022, with both Riedel and Autograph in attendance to ensure WNO were confident in setting up and using the Bolero system. In total, the system consisted of three wireless antenna w/PSU, fifteen Bolero belt packs, three 5 bay chargers with rack mount kits, an NSA-002A interface box with rack mount kit and the standalone licence for the system. A network switch for communication and supplying POE to the antenna and NSA units were also part of the package, explains Will Cottrell, Technical Sales Engineer at Autograph.
Once installed, the system was put to the test both at home and on tour. We implemented a soft introduction of the system, to ensure everyone was confident using Bolero, explains Thomas Roberts, Lighting Supervisor at WNO. During the first season, we configured the Bolero system like our old system before rolling out more features throughout the company.
We use 2-4 channels at a time, with roles defined per department plus separate chat channels alongside the main channel, to avoid overloading any one channel, continues Roberts. Not only does this system provide the best audio quality I've ever experienced, but it's also much better at dealing with distances between team members than our previous system. It's like having a normal conversation with someone - you can hear the inflection in people's voices so it's easy to determine who is speaking.
The intuitive user interface of the Bolero system has also improved WNO's communications. The user experience couldn't be simpler. The screen is easy to understand, and the buttons are much nicer than competitors' offerings, confirms Roberts. Stage Manager, Amy Batty echoes these sentiments and adds, The ergonomics are good and the buttons are intuitive and easily accessible. You forget you're wearing it and it becomes part of the day, part of the routine - there's no thinking, we just use it.
One of the most crucial requirements of the system was its portability. With the new Riedel system, we just pack the system in a flight case and take it with us, explains Roberts, who is responsible for maintaining and managing the communications systems. Once we arrive at a venue, we unpack the system, install two antennas and we're ready to go.
The project has been a success for all parties involved, and WNO can now rely on the system to support them throughout their touring season. It was great to work with a company as well-known and historic as Welsh National Opera, reflects Cottrell of Autograph. The end result of this project is a very reliable, clear and portable system which allows the same excellent levels of communication whether at home in Cardiff or on tour.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Wuppertal June 17, 2023 
