Darya Nikolskaya, director of 360Project said: "We started the implementation of this new form of classical concert performance, accompanied by large-scale projections, in cooperation with MMDM and the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra - 'Russian Philharmonic' - some years ago when we created the visual background for a series of concerts for children. Last year we showed in the same format Carmina Burana. The concept of such performances is to make the images of classics more comprehensible and perceivable for the modern audience."
The audience's response and the interest caused by those performances resulted in the decision to create the projection show for Aida.
Some engineering peculiarities of the installation were predetermined by the sophisticated architecture of the hall including multidirectional surfaces. Nikolskaya said: "The images were projected on the walls and the ceiling of the hall. Our task was to project the image so the light flow would not cross the spectators so as not to dazzle or disturb them. At the same time, we had to take into account the hall's architectural peculiarities. The concept was in line with the projected images of Ancient Egypt, as our projection show was based on Ancient Egyptian architectural details - frescoes, bas-reliefs. Each of the two Christie Roadster S+20K projectors showed images on the walls by the sides of the stage, while the two Christie HD10K-M projectors installed at the dress circle - projected onto the ceiling."
The enhanced signal processing features of Christie HD10K-M, such as digital zoom and blending enabled the same signal to be sent to both projectors. A catalyst media server was used to deliver a 1280 x 1024-pixel signal to the video projectors.
"The scope and sophisticated presentation of the displayed pictures were really amazing", notes Gayane Shiladzhyan of the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra. "Thanks to the video projection our performance may be compared with the best scenic versions of Aida. Merging into the atmosphere of the ancient age, spectators can feel as if they take part in the action. We are about to start the construction of a new building for our orchestra, and I would surely provide for permanent installation of such equipment."
Nikolskaya said of their future plans: "We are going to use the experience of the successful show in Moscow to put up the modern performance of Aida together with the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra "Russian Philharmonic" on the stage of the famous Italian Arena di Verona. We are also going to elaborate and to extend the content for the annual summer opera festival held in the theatre. And we will surely demonstrate the program with the help of Christie equipment."
(Lee Baldock)
