Wexford Opera House

Specialist installation company Northern Light has fitted sound, lighting and communication systems at the stunning new opera house in Wexford, south-east Ireland.
Built on the slightly extended footprint of its predecessor, the initial scheme for the new Wexford Opera House was developed by architects and building service engineers from the Office of Public Works (OPW), acoustic consultant Arup Acoustics and theatre consultant Carr & Angier. In 2005, the design team was completed through competitive tendering, with the appointment of Arup Consulting Engineers, Nolan Ryan QS and Keith Williams Architects.
Colin Cuthbert, Northern Light’s Managing Director, said: “I was delighted that Northern Light were selected for the technical installation in this €33m (£25.6m) new build venue. Professionally, the project demonstrates the team’s expertise and abilities extremely well. In fact, as a direct result of working on Wexford Opera House, two members of our team have achieved promotion.”
Northern Light installed over 230 ETC Source Four luminaires together with Robert Juliat 1.2k and 2K PCs, as well as an ETC Eos and two ETC Ion control desks. Some 500 ways of Sensor dimming in the main auditorium, plus another 100 in the smaller performance space, control the lights via a DMX and Ethernet network, integrated into which is an ETC Unison house lighting control system.
Paul Franklin, for Carr & Angier, says: “In the very early days, when Wexford Festival Opera was looking for a new home, we wrote the outline brief for the new building, and continued to be involved through the early planning, the development of the auditorium design and stage layout, and eventually the specification of the stage machinery, sound & communications, and stage lighting systems.
“The stage lighting specification called for an integrated dimmer and relay system, which we knew ETC could meet with Sensor.”
Fundamental to the design brief was that the theatre should provide a high quality acoustic environment. To achieve adequate room size and the desired reverberance, the FOH lighting bridges are suspended inside the acoustic volume rather than hidden behind a ceiling, which had an impact on other technical and creative decisions – luminaires in the auditorium had to be as quiet as possible.
Northern Light has also provided the venue with a sophisticated yet discrete PA system, which in the 781 seat main opera space comprises Renkus Heinz Iconyx, steerable line array, mixed by a 24 channel Allen & Heath GL series. In the smaller 176 seat studio theatre, PA is based around JBL Eon10 G2 portable active units which can be positioned as required. The house mixer is a 16 channel Soundcraft GB.
Arup Acoustics worked to ensure that the room provided the same positive attributes of the old Theatre Royal. The room was kept narrow in order to provide the same strong lateral sound reflections that were found in the old theatre. The surfaces around the proscenium were carefully shaped to provide support as performers move upstage and, by using the analogy of the room being a musical instrument; the space was conceived as a timber box. Sound scattering finishes have been integrated seamlessly. Jeremy Newton, acoustician for Arup, adds: “Both the size and depth of relief in the walls is based on acoustic principles in order to create the desired musical timbre.”
Cuthbert concluded: “Seeing the end result of months of hard work by all involved in the build of Wexford Opera House was awe inspiring. A large chunk of my early lighting career was spent working during the Festival Opera and I have very warm memories of the place and the people. And before his untimely death, I fondly remember the excitement of Jerome Hynes as he showed me the newly acquired People’s Press premises which would enable the eventual build of the new venue. His enthusiasm was infectious.”  

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