Zurich Opera House Uses Lawo IP Technology to Enable Remote Production posted: 17/09/2020
In the age of social distancing, how can an orchestra and choir create a great musical performance when they cannot be in close proximity to each other? During the coming season, Switzerland's renowned Zurich Opera House will rely on Lawo IP technology to solve exactly this problem. The need to find a solution for future performances became clear in early 2020, after Switzerland's lockdown went into effect on 15 March. That solution came in the form of an IP-based Remote Production installation from Lawo, designed specially for WAN-based remote productions. Equipment includes a Lawo mc 36 console, Compact I/O stagebox units, and V__remote4 devices to transport and process video and audio signals, plus an upgrade of the Lawo Nova73 HD Core already installed at the Opera House which adds RAVENNA networking and additional SFP Ethernet ports.
At first we sat at home, puzzled and surprised, but pretty quickly we were thinking about how to move forward, says Oleg Surgutschow, head of the Opera House's Sound Department. While some departments, like the workshops and costume departments, were able to continue working under the prescribed anti-Corona measures, the sound department's activities were pretty limited. So we had to quickly find a way to cope to ensure effective rehearsal operations and, later on, and deliver opera, operetta and ballet performances of the usual high level for the 2020-2021 season.
Since the orchestra pit proved to be too small for the required minimum distances between the musicians and choir members would likewise have been performing too close together, the management of the Opera House decided the only option was for both to use separate facilities, and the idea was born to transfer the Bregenz Floating Stage Principle to the opera house.
After agreement was reached, Surgutschow and Fabio Luisi, General Music Director of the opera house, and Michael Utz, deputy head of the sound department, sat down with the other trades to sound out the implementation. Fabio Luisi was already a conductor at the Bregenz Festival, where for years audio and video signals as well as intercom have been transmitted via long-distance connections between the stage, orchestra and audience, so the concept was a familiar one.
However, says Utz, we had to adapt the Bregenz model to the needs of our house. The Bregenz Festival is a long run of performances, while the Zurich Opera House has a changing program with changing musicians and ensembles. The equipment has to be mobile, and we have to be able to adjust settings quickly and safely. It was quickly decided that the orchestra rehearsal room on Kreuzplatz in Zurich, about 1 km from the Opera House, would have sufficient space for orchestra and choir.
Corona restrictions meant that delivery times for the chosen technology would be lengthier than usual, so time was of the essence in deciding on the solution and procuring the needed materiels: infrastructure for the audio and video signals and their transmission, as well as peripherals - for example, 60 microphones for the musicians, each of which now occupy a single desk due to distance rules, and not the double desk two performers would normally share.
Of course transmission demands were high, confirms Surgutschow. The orchestra's sound had to be reproduced in the main hall, video of the conductors movements had to be transmitted to the musicians, and communication between the stage, orchestra rehearsal room, and other technically relevant positions had to be ensured. This required a secure connection that could transmit audio and video signals without latency, and we decided to use two RAVENNA streams, giving 128 channels in both directions. For the transmission itself we rented a direct, redundant fiber optic connection from the city of Zurich, so that a back-up line is always available.
The Zurich Opera House is a long-standing and satisfied Lawo customer, so naturally a solution from Lawo was first on the table. Tingo GmbH / AV-Architekten from Muri AG, who were involved in the planning and system integration of the Opera House's new building in 2014, were called upon again to help with planning and evaluation.
Lawo presented a concept based on experience gained from many other remote production projects. And, for the Opera House, it made sense to employ new Lawo technology that would easily integrate with their previously installed equipment.
The Lawo setup includes a Compact I/O stagebox, a 24-fader mc 36 all-in-one mixing console and, with the V__remote4 for converting and transmitting the AV signals, a bidirectional, four-channel Video-over-IP interface with four local SDI inputs and outputs, as well as other tools required for production over WAN. An additional V__remote4 unit is located in the opera house, where a Lawo mc 56 mixing console, installed in 2018, was upgraded with a RAVENNA interface and SFPs in its Nova73HD core.
The V__remote4 solution covers all our needs - a very powerful system in a slim design, notes Surgutschow.
From Kreuzplatz, the audio signals are transmitted via the compact I/O, the mc 36 console and V_remote4 to the Opera House, where another V__remote4 receives the signals. There, the mc 56 console mixes the sound and passes it on to the sound reinforcement system. The conductors use cameras to guide the orchestra and choir, who are playing music on Kreuzstrasse. The infrastructure makes great use of the multi-viewer option of the V_remote4, which allows the stage to be transmitted with conductors in a wide shot, with communication via a previously installed Riedel Artist system. The main task of the mc 36 console is to provide a monitor mix for the conductor, but it is also used for parallel rehearsals, individual s
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
Zurich Opera House Uses Lawo IP Technology to Enable Remote Production posted: 17/09/2020 
