Audio Media - September 2008 - (Page 80) 09|08 AMSR A Night at the Opera Setting the stage in Scandinavia The once ‘opera-less’ Oslo now boasts one of the finest opera houses in the world, literally rising – almost iceberglike – from the Norwegian capital’s Bjørvika waterfront. JONATHAN MILLER marvels at its impressive sights and awesome sounds in the capable company of pivotal personnel from audio equipment installer Benum siv. ing AV. ith its extensive North Atlantic coastline peppered by its famous fjords – that rugged coastline stretching over ,km, Norway is an impressive country by any standard. Equally economically rich, Norwegians enjoy the second-highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita after Luxembourg, and the thirdhighest GDP per capita in the world. It is, therefore, fitting that no expense was spared in constructing and equipping the new state-of-the-art opera house that dominates the Bjørvika waterfront, an amazing architectural feat of eye-catching La Facciata (white Italian Carrara marble) and Norwegian ‘Ice Green’ granite (from Sør-Trøndelag) that rises out of the fjord like a giant ice floe, where it is perfectly positioned to serve around 500,000 residents – roughly one-tenth of the country’s population. That's what a generous NOK 4.4 billion (approximately £430 million) building budget can create. The government footed the entire bill for the nineyear project, which actually finished ahead of schedule and under budget. W Norwegian architects Snøhetta’s design is certainly beautiful, yet it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. Here its vital statistics make for impressive isolated reading: 38,500m gross floor area (divided into 1,100 rooms), of which 11,200m is dedicated to three audience areas – the 1,364-seat self-explanatory Main Hall (Store Sal), 440-seat so-called Scene 2 or Little Hall (Lille Sal), plus a 200-audience capacity Rehearsal Stage; stage areas totalling 8,300m – including one of the most advanced opera stages in the world with a 16m x 16m main stage supported by side stages, back stages, and an under-stage allowing 9m-high scenery to be prepared under the main stage and elevated during performances; while a generous 19,100m is turned over to rehearsal, administration, and workshop duties. Remaining inside, Snøhetta turned to the combined talents of London-based Theatre Projects Consultants – ‘Theatre Designers to the World’ – and acoustic O utside I n designers BrekkeStrandArup, a joint venture between local consultants Brekke & Strand Akustikk and global consultants Arup Acoustics, also responsible for the Copenhagen Opera House. According to Rob Harris, director of Arup’s global performing arts business, “Many old opera houses have short reverberation times, making the words sound clear, but the orchestra sounds dry, while modern opera houses tend to have a longer reverberation time to produce a more concert-like orchestral sound. The design brief in Oslo followed this trend, so our challenge was to provide the right balance between the two. It was a pleasure to experience the acoustic first hand at the opening event, and to witness the audience’s appreciation for what we have achieved.” Yet construction and acoustics working together in harmony are not the whole story. The Benum Group – more specifically its Oslo-based Norwegian division, Benum siv. ing. AS – were invited to compete for a lucrative sound tender for the Oslo Opera House that was originally drawn up back in 2000. In reality, the latter’s Peder Krohn (Project Manager), Ronald Hernes (Sales Manager), Egil Eide (Product Manager Audio), and Sverre Jøssund (Product Manager Audio) spent three months – and many sleepless nights – at the tail end of 2005 writing and delivering the winning tender, following a protracted pre-qualification round that itself took six months to negotiate. An animated Hernes remembers receiving the good news in true Scandinavian style: “I was standing on a mountain, and Peder called me: ‘Ronald; we got the deal!’” Given that the deal involved installing around $10- to $12-million of audio equipment, Hernes was understandably elated: “I went inside, drank a big beer, and then back out again: ‘Yes!’ It was fantastic.” Krohn: “I don’t know if it’s common or not, but one interesting thing is that we actually supplied the majority of the equipment, because most of the equipment is represented by Benum in Norway. We didn’t have to shop around.” > 80 AUDIO MEDIA SEPTEMBER 2008
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