Stavanger Concert House and The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra engages their audience with live streaming

Original article in Norwegian here.

Digital concert experiences in a challenging time

In March 2020 COVID19 hit the world and, as with many other industries, the whole of cultural Norway was put completely out of action. Strict restrictions on the number of visitors in concert halls where enforced, to comply with national guidelines for infection control.

Stavanger Concert Hall and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (SSO) were forced to turn around quickly and make drastic changes with regards to how they could offer their audiences a continued service. Together they managed to engage a wide audience through online live concert experiences and through active use of social media and other digital platforms.

In a challenging time for all, the concert hall and symphony orchestra collaboratively arranged an impressive program of symphony concerts, matinees and cultural experiences for children and adults. They delivered a range of digital experiences to their audiences, with live productions for Facebook and live streaming to other platforms.

The concert hall and orchestra managed to engage a wide audience from home, as well from abroad and from remote locations, in a truly challenging time. Being able to offer digital concert experiences meant a lot for their audience, as well as for their internal teams of professionals, from the musicians to the live production teams.

The technical setup in Stavanger Concert Hall

Stavanger Concert Hall and the Symphony Orchestra have chosen the production solution NewTek TriCaster TC1 for their multi-camera productions and digital events.

TriCaster TC1 is a 2 RU video production system that can record up to 16 different video sources, with a resolution of up to 4K UHD. The production system has a number of functions for IP video, for NDI compatible connections, for monitoring, for connection of different types of cameras and for live production and streaming. See some of the NewTek TriCaster offering from Mediability in Norway here.

To give the audience the experience of being close to the conductor and to the orchestra, they have rigged with several different cameras on and around the main stage. Among other things, they have chosen to use seven PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) cameras from BirdDog and two Panasonic AV-HN 130 cameras. The BirdDog Eyes P200 PTZ delivers image quality in 1080p, with optical zoom up to 30x and digital zoom up to 12x. P200 has full support for NDI. For remote control of the cameras, they have chosen a solution from Skaarhoj. See the BirdDog Eyes P200 selection from Mediability in Norway here.

Together, the concert hall and orchestra have rigged for a network setup with support for NDI and IP-based workflows. This presented them with challenges with regards to their infrastructure, which was solved with a combination of internal skills and expertise, as well as with support from their suppliers.

“We are impressed to see what the Stavanger Concert Hall and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra have achieved together,” says Ole Johan Skogheim, technical manager at Mediability. “Rigging for doing their own productions with an NDI compatible setup will give them flexibility and opportunities to deliver quality productions,” he adds.

About Stavanger Concert Hall and the Symphony Orchestra

Stavanger Concert Hall is home to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, which is one of Scandinavia’s most successful orchestras. The orchestra rehearses and has its concerts in Stavanger Concert Hall, which is ranked as one of the best acoustic halls in the world. The orchestra consists of 85 musicians from 23 different nations. Read more about Stavanger Concert Hall and the Symphony Orchestra here.