Clear-Com Wireless Communications Solutions Installed In Marinsky Theatre

The world-renowned Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, has completed a major installation of the latest wireless communications solutions from Clear-Com®.

The systems, which feature the award-winning FreeSpeak II® Digital Wireless System and the Agent-IC® mobile app, were supplied and installed by Clear-Com's regional partner, Oltbert Business Development Ltd.

The Mariinsky Theatre is one of the world's most prestigious theaters for opera and ballet, with a rich history intertwined with Russia’s political and cultural shifts over the last 150 years. It has seen the premieres of important stage works from Russian composers including Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, while many legends of the ballet such as Anna Pavlova, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Barishnikov began their careers at the Mariinsky Theatre’s ballet school.

The main Mariinsky Theatre building has undergone many reconstructions over the years and now seats over 1,600 guests. A second theater building, the Mariinsky II, was built behind the original in 2013, with seven storeys above ground and three below, boasting an auditorium that can seat to 2,000 people. Each building has a separate communication set-up; when it was built, the Mariinsky II installed a Clear-Com Eclipse® HX Digital Matrix System, but production teams in the older building were relying on outdated and unreliable walkie-talkies. Recently the theatre’s technical department began looking for a solution to update both buildings, harnessing the latest wireless technologies to improve communications.

The original theater’s new FreeSpeak II system has two E1 transceivers with eight beltpacks, and its existing Eclipse Matrix was upgraded to an Eclipse HX Digital Matrix System with the latest software that enables it to seamlessly integrate with IP communications, digital wireless solutions and other devices. The FreeSpeak II system in the Mariinsky II features six FreeSpeak II IP-T transceivers over AES67 PoE connection, with 16 beltpacks. The Clear-Com Agent-IC mobile app on iOS or Android devices is also available to extend the system if visiting productions require additional clients. The systems enable virtually everyone in each theater to communicate, including FOH, stage managers, lighting teams and production managers.

Nicki Fisher, Sales Director, Europe, Clear-Com, said: "Theater systems are in Clear-Com’s blood, but installations like this at such a historic venue are very special indeed. We are honored that Clear-Com systems are helping to bring the next generation of legendary performances to life at the Mariinsky Theatre."

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