The Palace of Arts is an arts complex that promises to change the landscape of Hungary's cultural life, and its technical specifications are world-class. Opening just in time to celebrate the 2005 Budapest Spring Festival, the Palace of Arts covers a ground area of 10,000sq.m in southern Pest, adjacent to the National Theatre. The centrepiece of the Palace is the National Concert Hall, the largest of its kind in Hungary, seating 1700 with standing room for an additional 200. Distinguished by outstanding acoustics and equipped to welcome international orchestras and virtuosi, its programming will also represent the wider scene of Hungarian culture, particularly its rich folk tradition.
The Palace cost over EUR130 million to build, funded by a private Budapest company, the TriGránit Development Corporation, under a unique PPP (Private-Public-Partnership) financial arrangement. The Concert Hall itself sits in a huge internal structure, floating on steel and rubber springs. There are 66 resonant chambers around its walls, and a 40-ton canopy above the podium to ensure that the audience hears the performance perfectly. The American consultancy ARTEC and its director Russell Johnson were brought onboard to design the acoustics. Johnson's CV includes concert halls in Birmingham, Sao Paulo, Philadelphia, Lucerne and Singapore, yet he ranks the Palace extremely high on this distinguished list: "I would not be surprised if, in three years from now, the musicians of Europe may rate this hall in Budapest as the best concert hall in Europe."
A flexible environment with adjustable side panels and a giant wooden baffle in the ceiling which can be raised or lowered, the venue is equipped with sophisticated sound reinforcement equipment for non-acoustic performances, typically jazz, including a Studer digital Vista 8 console which swings into operation at front-of-house.
Although Studer receives most of the acclaim for its high-end digital consoles from the broadcast industry, more and more of them are being specified for applications in the world of live performance. Operational flexibility and versatility, together with an exceptionally user-friendly interface, are given as the reasons by chief engineer, Barnabas Kiss.
"Every day, different performers and technicians will come through our doors," explains Kiss. "Our primary criteria for choosing the equipment was that it must be easy to use for the people who'll be here with us for maybe just one show. Also for these reasons, we wanted one manufacturer to supply all our console requirements so that all four mix positions in this building could be the same. Studer could give us a technical solution for recording as well as for PA, but really the choice was made because of the Vistonics interface. This system is so smart it could have been invented by Hungarians! Five minutes after sitting down in front of this desk for the first time, you can use it like a professional. At our opening ceremony, half of the Vista 8 was being used by the engineer producing a live mix for TV and radio; the other half of the same console was being used by another engineer to make a live recording of the event."
BaSys Multimedia of Hungary has supplied the four digital desks to the Palace. The Concert Hall has a mobile 32-fader Vista 8 located in its control room, which can be moved down to a position in the stalls. A 52-fader Studer Vista 8 has been sited in the adjacent studio for recording sessions. In the 450-seat Festival Theatre, a 52-fader Vista 8 digital console is installed at front-of-house, with a 40-fader Vista 7 installed in the adjoining recording studio.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
