The Magic Flute Debuts In Brussels With Medialon Show Control

South African artist and director William Kentridge has brought his innovative production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to Brussels Theatre De La Monnaie where Medialon Manager plays a critical role in controlling the show’s unusual imagery.

Kentridge’s production of the opera, which has been touring the world, is set in the 19th century in the early years of photography and at the height of world colonialism. The stage design lays out the background, midground, and foreground like an old bellows camera with the audience’s eyes as viewfinder.

Using a visual language that blends the opera’s themes of logic and mysticism, Kentridge has crafted geometric shapes that resolve into images and images that metamorphose into different pictures. The performers are surrounded by a world sketched in charcoal then erased and replaced with video projections featuring archival footage of Egypt and colonial conquerors.

To choreograph the intricate interplay of images integrator CANDO installed Medialon Manager to control three DoReMi MCS servers and manage two Barco SLM R12+ projectors for front and rear image projection. Medialon also controls two more Barco 6500 projectors, as needed.

The project took advantage of Medialon's unique features including Timeline Synchronization, offering a unique interface to program synchronized shows with a Timeline metaphor and Position Tracking, the ability to lock devices on the timeline, saving a lot of programming time during rehearsals.

The show has subsequently traveled to other worldwide operas in France, Italy, Israel, and the US. Philippe de Winter served as the initial video service manager for CANDO for the project. Currently his colleague, Kim Gunning, runs the show.