Description: Creative director Calixto Bieito of Zurich Opera House had a goal - to portray a thoroughly corrupt and vainly narcissistic society on stage for “L’incoronazione di Poppea. The result? Selfies of the actors projecting onto 14 oversized displays on the balconies of the auditorium.
Challenges: 1. Deciding on the type of displays LED or screens: LED walls would have been a huge challenge for the 14 screens because of how heavy they are. They couldn’t have been hung from the balconies and they would have also been a lot more expensive and impossible to manage on a daily basis.16x9 screens were chosen as a result.
2. Deciding on the feed knowing 1080p would have been too little for the each projected 16x9 screen. 4K was the only solution that could cover all the projection screens with a single projector while maintaining picture quality. Also the rear projection screen is huge so pixel size would have also been an issue here.
3. Adapting the fibre optic line to the servers
4. Content routing
© Opernhause Zurich AG/L'incoronazione di Poppea-Monika Rittershaus
The project is unique in that the Zurich Opera House changes its show configuration every day, having rehearsals for one show during the day, and then a different show in the evening. This meant that the content for each show had to be changed quickly and easily; the projectors moved around the house and 4K content switched and transported to them with as little latency as possible to the projectors. This is especially important when the cameras are being used to film the actors on stage and display them live through the projectors. The mix of Christie Pandoras Box media servers and Christie Terra permits them to change the content and resolution for each show, then route full lossless 4K@60Hz via their existing fibre network to the projectors, wherever they may be. The Terra solution also gives them control of the projectors web GUI and of the media servers, without having to run extra network cables. Terra also gives them a multiview function in the control room to be able to have a live preview of the media server’s outputs.
List of Project Components
Christie Boxer 4K30
Christie Pandoras Box
Christie Widget Designer
Christie Terra Transmitters, Terra Receivers, Terra Controller
Major Players
Zurich Opera House
publitec Präsentationssysteme & Eventservice GmbH
smARTec Veranstaltungstechnik AG
Christie
