Royal Opera

Château de Versailles, France

The Royal Opera of the Château de Versailles is a small opera house with 712 seats recently restored with new scenographic equipment to host baroque operas. The management of the Château and its event programming wing "Versailles Spectacles" having decided to add baroque music to their programming, an acoustic shell was necessary in order to have the best acoustic conditions on stage.

Knowing Marc Blanc, technical director of Versailles Spectacles, Sébastien Jouan was able to propose the services of Theatre Projects to design this shell.

The work consisted of examining the acoustic conditions of the opera and designing and specifying a removable acoustic shell that promotes sound reflections towards the audience and allows the musicians to hear themselves better on stage.

Sensitive to the historical character of the place which opened its doors in 1770, our intervention consisted of designing a mobile acoustic shell/wall that could be easily moved and stored in the flytower. The weight of this acoustic wall was specified to have the best possible acoustic characteristics while ensuring that its modular construction makes it both easy to handle and quick to store.

Theatre and Acoustic Design: Theatre Projects

Role of Sébastien Jouan: Multidisciplinary Manager and Technical Direction/Acoustic Design

TP Team: Sébastien Jouan, Jason Kiely, Ando Randrianoelina, Simon Perigot, Victoria Chavez

Delivery: 2018