Kilden Performing Arts Centre represents the largest financial investment in a cultural building in Norway since the construction of the Oslo Opera House (itself kitted out with Robert Juliat profiles and followspots in 2008) and, covering a total area of 15,000sq.m, is the largest ever to be built in Southern Norway.
On its opening last month, Kilden became the new home of three important independent institutions: the Agder Regional Theater, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and the regional opera company, Opera S°ør.
Kilden's special role as a cultural centre lies in its remit to accommodate everyone from local amateurs to international stars. It boasts an audience capacity in excess of 2270 people with a diverse programme that spans the spectrum of cultural genres and includes music festivals, theatre and musical premieres and concerts.
The venue centres around four performance spaces designed specifically for this wide variety of uses. These comprise the 1185-seat Concert Hall which plays host to the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the 700 seat Theatre and Opera Hall which can be adapted to suit both Agder Regional Theatre or Opera Sør plus the smaller 235-seat Multi Hall and the aptly named 150 seat Intimate Hall, both of which lend themselves to experimental theatre and multi-functional use.
This diverse programme and range of venues required an equally adaptable, high quality lighting product. Robert Juliat was chosen, in part, because of the choice of power and beam angle available within its range of profiles. Over 200 Robert Juliat 614SX and 613SX 1000W and RJ 714SX 2000W profiles have been installed for use across all four performance spaces. The RJ 714SX 2000W profiles are particularly suited to front of house positions and are augmented by 32 similarly powerful RJ 329HF 2500W Fresnels. Two pairs of Aramis and Cyrano 2500W long-throw followspots complete the set up.
"Avab recommended the Robert Juliats to us and we have not been disappointed," says Ståle Ellingsen, technical director of Kilden. "The fixtures have proved themselves easy to use and very adaptable - a critical feature for the diverse number of functions they have to perform at our eclectic venue. The convenience of the zoom function means we can use them in any position in any of our halls and makes rigging and focusing a much quicker process. The output and quality of light, in addition to the superb quality of its optical and mechanical performance, is exactly what this high profile venue requires and deserves."
"We were very proud to have supplied and installed the Robert Juliat fixtures as part of our remit for equipping the Centre with all its lighting, dimming and control," says Karsten Lyngstad of AVAB CAC, Robert Juliat's Norwegian distributor. "We specified Robert Juliat because we have known the products for many years and we rely on the proven quality of light and of every other aspect. In fact we could not think of any other product that could be used for a multi-purpose venue like Kilden with such different stages in both size and purpose."
(Jim Evans)
