As video projection project manager, Jean-Baptiste Pacucci and his colleague Maxim Guislain were put to the test to enable a massive and complex mapping for Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov and his Opera ‘The Tale of Tsar Saltan’.

“To prepare the technical implementation of this production, we received a 3D model of the stage in advance, allowing our team to plan and calculate the visual needs for this opera. Soon it became quite obvious that the calibration and adjustments to get a perfect result would have to be completed in very little time. It is inevitable that the 3D model that we got upfront and the real life stage shape are not identical. To get a perfectly aligned mech for the mapping we knew we had to upgrade our in-house technology.” Jean-Baptiste Pacucci explains.

After some research on the options to smoothen this workflow, it soon became clear for the video team of La Monnaie that OmniCal was a necessity and basically the only way to make it happen. Jordi Vandekerkhof from FACE and Peter Kirkup from disguise visited La Monnaie for an extended demo resulting in the investment to use this new technology.

Since the venue was already the proud owner of a 2X4 pro server, Jean-Baptiste knew they could count on disguise for support when needed. Luca Manzoni was their life-line when it came to completing all steps in the process to get to this pleasing result.  

‍

It was a very pleasing experience to get support from Luca Manzoni, making the team comfortable to respect the challenging timings and deadline that came with this production.

‍

The OmniCal kit is being used in combination with BlackTrax, disguise and GrandMA2 to bring this fairytale to life. The show runs from June 11 until June 29, filling 1.200 seats 9 times with most of them sold out.

‍

More about ‘The Tale of Tsar Saltan’ by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

For the centenary of Pushkin's birth in 1899, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov drew inspiration from one of his celebrated fairy tales and composed a delightfully imaginative opera, with the 'Flight of the Bumblebee' as instant hit. The work is 'Once Upon A Time' story in song, where the composer's gift for melody and orchestration combines perfectly with the poet's often absurd humour and overflowing imagination.

‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ is one of those instantly recognisable musical hits that sometimes stick in your mind for days. But what few people know is that it comes from The Tale of Tsar Saltan, where it is a symphonic intermezzo that ends the first scene of Act Three. With its agitated rhythms and patterns of rapidly descending and ascending scales, it describes how Prince Gvidon, whom the Princess-Swan has turned into a bumblebee, flies across the sea hoping to meet his father.

‍

Tickets and info: www.lamonnaie.be‍

Credits:
for the images / content: © Studio "Show Consulting", Saint-Petersburg, Russia
La Monnaie: Jean-Baptiste Pacucci & Maxime Guislain
Direction artistique de la vidéo & Éclairages: Gleb Filshtunsky
Other photos: FACE

Disguise Support team

- Luca Manzoni

- Mayur Patel

- Peter Kirkup

- Peter Schubel

- Philip Cooksey

- Mit Patel

‍

‍

‍