Charles organized a Designer Lighting Forum (DLF NY) tour of The Metropolitan Opera House
with John Froelich the Met’s Resident Lighting Designer and his accomplished team of designers and engineers.
The largest repertory opera house in the world, it is home to the Metropolitan Opera Company, and American Ballet Theatre in the summer months. The Lobby’s signature lighting detail is the famous Austrian crystal sputnik chandeliers. Twelve of the chandeliers in the auditorium are on motorized winches, and raised to the ceiling prior to performances so as not to obstruct sight lines of the audience on the upper levels. They are dazzling close up!
Getting a back stage pass reveals the unbelievable volume of space that it takes to put on the resplendent performances, but also to manage the sets, lights, the technicians and the performers. The Met is one of the most technologically advanced stages in the world. Their vast arrays of hydraulic elevators, motorized stages and rigging systems have made possible the staging requirements of these very complex productions.
Lighting is state of the art and every-night is reconfigured overnight in about 4 hours for the next day’s performance. Every Fixture on the stage is LED and is controlled by computer by lighting engineers from the control rooms at the back of the auditorium. –By Rosemarie Hittmeyer
