Wortham Center corrects orchestra pit design flaw
The Wortham Center's orchestra pit is being rebuilt, fixing a design flaw that has provided 20 years worth of headaches for the HGO and the Houston Ballet:
It was built in the mid 1980s exactly the way Houston Grand Opera wanted it, with the back half of the pit under the edge of the stage, much like the pit in the historic world-class Bayreuth Opera House in Germany, because they wanted Houston's opera house to be like Bayreuth. In that arrangement, several rows of musicians sit and play under the stage overhang, and that's how it's been for 18 seasons, for HGO and Houston Ballet, the Wortham's two resident arts groups. Opera Technical Director Greg Weber says they now know that it was a mistake to copy Bayreuth, because Bayreuth and the Wortham are not even remotely similar in design, and, clearly, what works at Bayreuth doesn't work at the Wortham.
[snip]
[Opera Technical Director] Greg Weber says they made some small changes in the pit and stage configuration in 1996, in the hope of improving the sound, but it didn't work as well as they hoped. Then, two years ago, they decided to just scrap the old pit and build a new one. They had two primary considerations.
HGO and Houston Ballet got two million dollars from the City of Houston to pay for moving the orchestra pit completely out from under the stage, farther out into the audience area, and this work is now underway in the Wortham's large hall.
[snip]
Weber says starting this fall, opera and ballet audiences will hear the orchestra better and more clearly than they ever have. Houston Ballet Managing Director C.C. Conner says he's delighted and relieved, because his dancers will finally be able to hear the music without speakers.
Conner says the new and open orchestra pit will make all the difference in the world for ballet performances.
With the larger orchestra pit sticking five feet farther out into the hall, the Wortham is losing two sections of seats on the front row, 22 seats in all. The new and improved Wortham Center orchestra pit will be finished in time for Houston Ballet's season in September. Houston Grand Opera's season begins in October. The $2 million cost is coming from the City's Convention and Entertainment Center budget, which is funded by the local hotel-motel room tax.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/01/05 02:34 PM | Print |
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