It’s the world’s first large-scale silent opera – staged by a cast of more than 100 performers on the grand staircase of the Sydney Opera House to a nightly audience of 3,000. The entire audience will be sitting on the forecourt under the stars wearing state of the art Audio Technica headphones, cocooned in a world of pure sound with the magnificent Opera House and Harbour Bridge as the backdrop. And it’s been masterminded by award-winning sound engineer Tony David Cray (who is also responsible for the magnificent soundscapes of Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour).
We caught up with Tony to discuss the unique audio techniques involved in bringing a “silent” opera to vivid life in Sydney Opera House The Opera: The Eighth Wonder.
How did the concept for this silent production- “Sydney Opera House, The Opera: The Eighth Wonder” come about?
Everything begins with the story of the Opera, which is about innovation and vision. Back in the 1950’s, Sydney wished to establish itself as cultural leader, and felt it required a world class performing arts venue to help it achieve this.
We were inspired by this commitment to technical innovation and begun investigating ways of presenting a large-scale live performance that would enhance the listener’s experience. Circular Quay is a vibrant location, and we were keen to help the audience be able to be transformed from this bustling environment and into the world of the Opera’s story.
A silent opera performed by a cast of over 100 to an audience of 3,000- all hearing through Audio Technica headphones. Where to begin? Can you tell us a little bit about how it all works?
This project is a natural extension of the 5 years of the award-winning Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour projects, with the headphone component being an almost natural progression of the work we have been doing.
For Sydney Opera House – The Opera, we have an amazing line up of performers and technicians. It begins with a large orchestra being conducted by Maestro Tony Legge in a dedicated venue inside the Opera House, where he and the musicians are able to see and hear the performers located out on the Opera House forecourt steps. Alongside the orchestra are the Opera Australia Chorus who provide the rich vocal support for the performance.
The orchestra and chorus are captured with over 80 channels of microphones, which is relayed to the forecourt audio mixing tower. Here we blend the orchestra and the chorus to create a mix for the 16 principal singers to hear in their own personal earpieces. Each of the principals are wearing two microphones, one main and one backup.
All of these microphones are mixed together, and the result is then optimised for the Audio Technica headphones and then sent to our own dedicated FM broadcast network.
What are the most important things to consider in engineering such a different soundscape?
Our primary goal is to ensure that the work is rendered in as true a fashion as is possible. Opera as a musical style has a very wide range of dynamics, the quiet passages are tiny and the loud passages are overwhelming. We try to preserve as much of this as is possible as this allows for the natural beauty of the score and performance by the orchestra and singers to shine.
How do you compare something like this to being in the Joan Sutherland Theatre for example? I guess it’s quite unique for opera singers to be miked?
10 years ago, this kind of undertaking would be unimaginable, however Opera Australia has been singular in its efforts to invigorate and explore emerging performance mediums. It could be argued that if Puccini, Verdi or Mozart were around today they would be been seduced by the opportunities. Personally, I am pretty certain that Mozart would be writing a pop-opera with Sia as the heroine if he were around today.
Having also been involved in the Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, did these experiences help lay the foundations about sound on the Harbour? Or is this production just completely different again?
We are very conscious of the difference between revolution and evolution. Bold ideas can easily fail if they are trying to do too many new things at once. So this project is most certainly based on our experiences from Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour (HOSH).
The exciting point for us, is that this project is essentially the same as HOSH up until we get to the audience headphones. So, we are able to put all our energies into making that sound as best as it can be without having to be also contend with other new elements.
That being said, the size of the set for this production is simply insane. The entire Sydney Opera House becomes the platform for an opera about itself.
How do you typically approach new projects as unique as this?
I find that it is crucial to begin by learning the piece and letting it be a platform for ideas. Then comes the fun part of discussing potential ideas and approaches with the director and fellow designers.
And finally, what do you think is the next level of audio engineering we can look forward to?
That’s always hard to predict, but the trend of personal audio, started back in the 80’s with cassette walkman, then turbocharged with the iPod and MP3’s, shows no sign of stopping, And now with the advent of affordable, yet, immensely powerful devices that are able to render VR graphics, I can only see this area of the market expanding.
Audio engineering is made up of two fundamentally different elements, one is the technology that allows you to capture, manipulate and create sound and music, and the other is what art you make with that technology.
Sydney Opera House – The Opera, will be a great example of exploring how all this technology can empower the telling of a story.
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Sydney Opera House The Opera: The Eighth Wonder will run for 5 performances only, over two weekends from 28 Oct to 5 Nov. For more information and to book visit opera.org.au
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