One of Ukraine’s famous opera houses – Lviv National Opera – has been investing in Robe moving lights over the last five years and now has 16 x Robe Tarrantula large LED wash beams and 22 x T1 Profiles, which are among 146 moving lights in total available in the house rig.
Located on Freedom Avenue in central Lviv, Ukraine, a beautiful and historic major Western city, the majestic Lviv Opera House was designed by Polish architect Zygmunt Gorgolewski and constructed between 1897 and 1900. It is now a primary European cultural and performance hub, known for innovative and captivating opera and ballet productions.
Lighting director Oleksandr Mezentsev has worked at the venue for the last five years, and he lights and oversees the lighting of all its productions. In many ways, this has been an atypical tenure as he joined the team there during the height of the Covid pandemic, which has been followed by the full-scale war that has been raging since 2022.
Like most Ukrainian theatres, Lviv National Opera returned to work within 2 months of the war starting in 2022, and despite the constant threat of Russian missile and drone attacks, is now back to operating a full annual schedule, including 3-5 premieres per season, plus assorted revivals, totaling approximately 200 operas and ballets.
It is a vital part of a network of Ukrainian performance institutions that have been providing much needed relief during tough times, when creativity, invention and artistic expression remain defiant, while the demand for tickets … is through the roof!
The Robe fixtures have been arriving in smaller numbers – 6 or 8 at a time – for most of this recent challenging period, supplied via Odesa-based distributor Lightek. Given the current circumstances, this is an impressive investment.
“We’ve basically purchased the fixtures according to the needs of the different incoming productions,” explained Oleksandr. The technical production for all of these has been fully sourced and produced in house, and the Opera House has very high standards of delivery.
The T1 Profiles came first.
They sought a luminaire with refined color mixing and accurate, reliable shutters. The T1’s rotating shutter module – each of the four shutter blades independently moves and can be angled, AND the entire framing system can rotate plus or minus 60° for super-precise beam shaping – cemented the choice of this fixture, which has been specifically designed for theatre.
The animation wheel and the “attractive” set of gobos, plus the zoom and general focus ability of the T-series range also “played into” their decision, noted Oleksandr, “These features are all essential for theatre.”
A lighting professional with 27 years of knowledge of the art, Oleksandr has worked at various theatres and rental companies as well as for other productions, so has a broad range of lighting experience under his belt.
The high CRI of the T1 Profile is also great for producing realistic flesh tones, all-important in both ballet and opera, and the T1s are positioned in the overhead rig in upstage positions and are also rigged on some of the FOH bars.
When it came to adding a powerful LED wash light onboard, they wanted to match the colors of the T1s, so another Robe product was a logical choice, and Tarrantulas were picked. The color range is similar to that of the T1, which “allows the workflow to be faster, smarter and more effective using fixtures with a matching color range,” Oleksandr explained.
The stage area is 12 meters square, and the Tarrantulas are positioned on the upstage ring of lights.
Both the T1s and the Tarrantulas are used for every show produced in the main house to great effect and they have made a huge positive difference to the daily tasks for Oleksandr and his lighting department of 10.
He was familiar with Robe products already before starting at Lviv National Opera, along with a number of other brands. “Robe now covers all the needs of any performance environment, and all the products are very flexible and solid, with excellent quality of light,” he observes.
”LDs are always happy to work with these machines,” he adds, explaining that while they mainly work with Ukrainian creative teams right now, internationals are sometimes invited to collaborate on the production side.
Oleksandr further underlines the excellent relationship they enjoy with Lightek, which dates back around 20 years. He explains how CEO Oleg Kaminker and the team there “work hard at keeping us informed of the latest and most appropriate tech when it becomes available and are always on hand and very quick to respond.”
Lviv National Opera is currently in the process of transitioning to LED stage lighting, but right now the inventory is a mix of these, discharge and incandescent sources.
The Opera has managed to retain a relatively regular schedule with some adaptations. Around 600 people are working there, including all the creative and technical crews, FOH and administration, marketing and promotion staff, as well as full companies for the opera and ballet performances and a resident orchestra.
On top of all the usual wartime pressures, this winter, the harshest for the last decade, they have been contending with power blackouts of up to 20 hours a day and temperatures plunging to minus 20°C, but “the show must go on” as the famous phrase goes!
Photos: Courtesy Lviv Opera