Moscow's "Futuristic" New Concert Hall Crescendos with Claypaky

Moscow's new Zaryadye Concert Hall opened on September 2018 with a gala performance by the Russian National Orchestra, attended by dignitaries including President Putin. The modernist, glass structure houses a 1,560-seat main auditorium, lit by a house rig of Claypaky fixtures.

Claypaky's Russian distribution partner DOKA was commissioned to provide technical expertise for the project, challenged with specifying a lighting solution befitting a concert hall which promises to dazzle audiences with a vision of a forward-thinking, technologically-advanced Russia, the company says. As Putin commented at the opening ceremony, "It represents both [the] historic pride of the nation and its aspiration to create new. Zaryadye Concert Hall is indeed a music complex of the future."

The main auditorium is unique in terms of stage machinery equipment and integrated engineering technologies, facilitating performances ranging from classical concerts and theatre performances to international conferences and shows. To achieve this, the team designed cutting-edge machinery, which required carefully chosen fixtures to match. Lighting equipment is mounted on special mechanisms allowing to lift projectors up above the ceiling and handle technical maintenance without dismantling them.

DOKA supplied 54x Claypaky A.LEDA B-EYE K20 LED, 12x Claypaky Scenius Spot, 12x Claypaky Scenius Profile, and 30x Claypaky Show Batten 100 LED.

"The A.LEDA B-EYE K20 are ideal for the orchestra pit and auditoriums -- their new six-color system of color synthesis allows us to get a white color which does not differ from a classic halogen lamp, but at the same time enables us to change color temperature and work with tones," says DOKA's lighting director, Vasily Litvin. "As the stage is often in use for acoustic concerts, minimum levels of technological noise was one of the main priorities when choosing the lighting equipment. Nothing should disturb visitors while they enjoy tailor-made acoustic characteristics of the auditorium."

Damir Ismagilov, the lead lighting designer of Bolshoi Theatre, contributed to the stage lighting design of the new Concert Hall. "Zaryadye is full of surprises. Inside, it is an amazing architectural space, housing a complex and sophisticated combination of lighting and technical equipment which is capable of transforming every single event into a one-of-a-kind performance. Zaryadye is a special place due to the energy and technical brilliance it combines."