The fabulous new Michael and Sonja Koerner Hall at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music features a number of unique technological innovations achieved by consultants Engineering Harmonics of Toronto. Chief among them is an ingenious and visually elegant voice-lift system that integrates with the performance sound system in a way that is truly unique to provide complete coverage to every seat in reinforced applications, where such coverage might otherwise be much more costly or more complex to achieve.

Built over three years at a cost of some $110 million, the 1,135-seat concert hall is the jewel of the new TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The hall achieved the highest possible acoustic rating—N1—rendering it ideal for the finest acoustical performances of classical music, jazz, and world music. The incorporation of variable acoustics makes it equally well suited to amplified music, lectures, and film presentations. The hall features two balcony tiers above the main orchestra level, and a third technical balcony, finished to provide optimal sightlines for live televised broadcasts of performances.

Koerner Hall showing center cluster

 Koerner Hall showing voice-stick behind center cluster

              Close-up of voice-stick at Koerner Hall                 

Centre cluster (top), rear view of voice-stick behind centre cluster (middle), and close-up of voice-stick showing house mix position (bottom)

For reinforced performances, the voice-lift system can be integrated with the flown performance sound system in an ingenious way to provide complete coverage of the orchestra level and the seating in the chorus levels above the sides and rear of the stage.

Yet another design innovation was provision of a permanent mix position at the rear of the parterre level on the centreline, just steps from the door to the sound control room. Touring professionals who may be unfamiliar with the venue will appreciate this, since it gives them a comfortable place to mix in the same acoustic space as the performers.

Read the full article by Associated Buzz Creative's Alan Hardiman in the April 2010 issue of Lighting & Sound America. More information can be found in our coverage in the March-April 2010 issue of Broadcaster.

Photo credits: Tom Arban (top and middle), Bill Coons (bottom)