Audio specialist Sennheiser, which has a longstanding relationship with Cirque du Soleil that extends over two decades, loaned several channels of wireless equipment through its Global Relations team to help ONE DROP realise its creatively and technically ambitious production.
Established by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, ONE DROP is a non-profit organization whose mission is to 'ensure that water is accessible to all, today and forever'. According to some estimates, nearly one billion people in the world live without clean drinking water, while another 2.5 billion people lack access to modern sanitation facilities. In the show One Night for ONE DROP, Cirque du Soleil illustrated the fragility of the Earth's water ecosystem and the impact of water needs around the world in beautiful stage sets, breath-taking acrobatics and music to remember.
One Night for ONE DROP was planned to run concurrently to O, Cirque's resident show at the Bellagio since its 1998 opening. Therefore the Cirque team needed to augment the existing Sennheiser wireless system to accommodate the additional onstage talent.
Gavin Whiteley, technical manager of audio for Cirque du Soleil's Resident Shows Division, reached out to Sennheiser to ensure the upgraded system would perform flawlessly and would meet the stringent technical demands of the show. "Sennheiser's product line is not only proven industry-wide, but also within our own shows," Whiteley says. "It is a known quantity and we knew we could count on it. Krista Monson's [director] vision was to have more live musicians onstage than O normally does, so that's when we were looking to get those additional resources in the theatre so we could achieve her vision," he recalls.
Kristy Jo Winkler, Sennheiser's global relations manager for the Americas, comments: "Our relationship with Cirque du Soleil spans many years and Sennheiser has always maintained a deep and meaningful connection with the performing arts. We were inspired to play an integral role in ONE DROP - firstly because it represented another chance to push our technical boundaries and secondly because it was for such a worthwhile cause."
"As soon as we got the call from Gavin, Sennheiser's Global Relations team quickly provided ten additional wireless channels - all racked and preconfigurated so it would be 'plug and play' for this unique one-night spectacle," explains Dave Missall, national market development, professional systems, Sennheiser USA.
The 90-minute performance featured more than 230 artists and performers from neighboring Cirque du Soleil productions, an original composition for string quartet by award-winning film composer Danny Elfman, a dance piece choreographed by Sonya Tayeh of So You Think You Can Dance, a special guest performance by certified platinum recording artist Jackie Evancho and many other creative acts.
(Jim Evans)
