Press release
12.10.2009 - Wedemark/Germany
Swiss Television strikes another hit with an extraordinary opera production
La Bohème im Hochhaus (La Bohème in the High-Rise) uses Sennheiser equipment
Swiss Television has once again attracted great attention with a spectacular opera production – on 29 September, La Bohème was broadcast live from a high-rise building. With its striking blocks of flats and modern shopping centre, the Gäbelbach district in Bern became the backdrop for Puccini’s opera, which is set in 19th century Paris – a drastic contrast that added a new twist to the tragic love story of Mimi and Rodolfo. The individual scenes were broadcast from three different sites in Bern and shown in their entirety for television viewers in HDTV quality on their screens at home – along with the fantastic sound. Audio equipment from Sennheiser made this special project possible. An extensive RF wireless system, with 152 receiving links and 44 monitor links, was installed at the locations. Experts from Sennheiser’s Swiss partner Bleuel electronic AG and the Sennheiser head office helped the engineers from Swiss Television and the tpc production company implement the ambitious show.
An unusual challenge for Bleuel electronic AG. Though the company has extensive experience equipping theatres and opera houses, the locations selected by Swiss Television for its production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème weren’t exactly ordinary. Or it was precisely that they were so ordinary that they were so unconventional – a block of flats and the Westside Shopping Centre in Bern served as the live backdrop for the work. The cameras and sound equipment followed the performers into a flat, a painter’s studio, the garden and the laundry room, as well as a pizzeria and a bus station in front of the high-rise block. Located a few hundred metres away from the building, the shopping centre wasn’t just the modern equivalent of Puccini’s street market stalls for the second act, it also housed the orchestra, choir and children’s choir.
New Dimensions
Swiss Television spared no effort or expense for this ambitious production. The music was performed by the prestigious Bern Symphony Orchestra, directed by Srboljub Dinic, and the Bern City Theatre ensemble was supplemented by a number of other top class performers. Over 30 sound engineers were on hand to provide the highest possible musical and vocal sound quality for viewers. The camera work held many surprises, with unusual angles that often quite vividly brought out the contrast between the historically dressed artists and the modern setting. Hosts Sandra Studer, Michael Cerutti and Alice Tumler guided viewers through the production, explaining the scenes and taking in the opinions of the enthusiastic live audience.
“Nothing this technically complex has ever been done before.”
After initial frequency planning for the microphone and monitoring systems, the RF wireless experts Peter Rissi and Stefan Seiler from Bleuel electronic, as well as Klaus Willemsen from Sennheiser, arrived on location a few days prior to the event in order to determine the final transmission frequencies for the soloists and monitor links. Ideal antenna positions also had to be selected, and the rack-mount microphone receivers and monitor transmitters were set up. “Nothing this technically complex has ever been done before,” is how Klaus Willemsen described the dimensions of the production. 
A total of three radio microphone systems transmitted La Bohème with opera house quality. 84 microphone channels and 16 monitor links were set up in the shopping centre. In the high-rise, 36 microphone and 14 monitor links were used to cover all the locations – the block of flats, the pizzeria and the bus stop in front of the building. For the high-rise, an additional mobile rack with 22 microphone and 14 IEM channels was brought in, as some of the locations were so RF shaded that the mobile rack had to be placed in front of the rooms to ensure smooth transmission. The four main performers each had two microphones in case of any unexpected technical failures. In addition, various booms with a total of eight MKH 416 shotgun microphones were on hand to capture the atmosphere and – in an emergency – the soloists. Wireless fishpoles were used with SKP 30 plug-on transmitters.
A single acoustic unit despite the multiple locations
Peter Rissi, Stefan Seiler and Klaus Willemsen emphasized how difficult it was to bring the musicians and vocal performers from the different locations together acoustically. “The greatest challenge were the distances involved for the return links,” explains Peter Rissi. “These were used to play the orchestra and choir music for the singers and their conductor via bodypack receivers. The two choirs also had to hear the soloists and orchestra, of course, and were equipped with monitoring receivers too. The distances between the individual antenna locations and the scenes in the high-rise and shopping centre were so great that we had to use custom-made power amplifiers.” A total of 120 monitoring receivers plus monitor speakers for the orchestra ensured that everyone involved could hear everything perfectly.
The hosts used SKM 5200 radio microphones and SK 250 bodypack transmitters to guide the audience through the opera and to interview the live audience, thus providing the performers and technical teams with the necessary stage set-up time between scenes. The hosts’ radio microphones sent their signals to compact EK 3241 camera receivers, which then passed the audio signals on via camera sound lines to the central broadcasting station.
The architect of the extraordinary idea of performing an opera in a high-rise building was Thomas Beck, the editorial director at Swiss Television. Christian Eggenberger, the producer of La Bohème im Hochhaus, brought in the perfect location. With tpc, an experienced production company was on board, and Bleuel electronic AG provided experts in wireless transmission technology.
Wilhelm Zürrer, a trained sound master at tpc, commented, “For decades we’ve enjoyed extraordinarily successful collaboration with Sennheiser. Especially in the field of RF technology we have great respect for the professionalism of the company and its employees. When we as users make suggestions or sometimes express special needs they listen and integrate them into their products. For this reason it made sense to commission our long-established partner with the planning and implementation of wireless microphone and in-ear monitoring technology for this extremely complex production.”
Hasso Böhme, Bleuel electronic AG’s managing director, added: “It was fascinating to carry out such a technically demanding task together with Swiss Television, tpc and Sennheiser. Everything went incredibly well, with Swiss precision I would say. For opera fans there was no discernable difference to a performance in an opera house – and these were completely new dimensions that were involved. We’re looking forward to our next technical adventure with Swiss Television!”
Wireless technology used for La Bohème im Hochhaus
Transmitters:
62 SK 50 / SK 5212 bodypack transmitters
3 SK 250 bodypack transmitters with especially large range (hosts)
52 MKE 1 and MKE 2 clip-on microphones
13 headset microphones
10 SKM 5200 handheld transmitters with ME 5009 capsules (wide cardioid; hosts)
8 SKP 30 plug-on transmitters (for MKH shotgun microphones)
Receivers:
71 EM 3732 and EM 3532 twin receivers
10 EK 3241 camera receivers
Wireless monitoring systems:
22 SR 2050, SR 3256 and SR 350 twin transmitters
120 EK 3253 and EK 300 bodypack receivers
Miscellaneous:
over 1000 metres of antenna cable, 22 active antenna splitters, 10 antenna boosters, 14 active directional antennas, 4 passive directional antennas, 4 active omni-directional antennas, 4 passive omni-directional antennas, 3 passive circularly polarized antennas, 9 antenna combiners, 3 UHF amplifiers
The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. The family-owned company, which was established in 1945, recorded sales of over €385 million in 2008. Sennheiser employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, around 55% of whom are in Germany. Sennheiser has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA, and is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones), K + H Vertriebs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (Klein + Hummel studio monitors, installed sound) and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres).
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