The Guangzhou Opera House was designed by London-based architect Zaha Hadid to represent two boulder-like structures of different sizes, with a theatre located in each. The Grand Theatre in the main structure has been installed with an XL8 live performance system in the control room, together with a Heritage 2000. A second XL8 has been added to the networked system for stage monitoring, and can be moved depending on the application.
A PRO6 live audio system and a Verona have been installed into the control room of the smaller, multipurpose theatre, and there are two Venice 160s in the rehearsal studio and one in the news room.
Mr Zhou Xucun is front of house engineer at the Guangzhou Opera House. He explains that the decision to choose Midas consoles came after countless discussions and technical debates by audio experts: "Midas digital consoles have retained the legendary Midas audio quality, adding the power and convenience of onboard FX and dynamics processing while retaining their familiarly-laid out work surfaces, which make them extremely convenient to operate."
Since the Opera House opened, the Midas XL8 has been used for FOH on almost every live performance, including the opera Mulan, the opening ceremony of the 9th China Arts Festival, concerts by famous Chinese tenor Wang Hongwei, singer Zhu Zheqin and the 2010 Chinese Film Awards.
(Jim Evans)
