DiGiCo powers new Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Theatre spaces

The Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Theatre has unveiled two new performance spaces - Hung Sin-nui Theatre and Red Bean Hall - complete with DiGiCo consoles. These venues aim to revitalise the traditional art form of Cantonese Opera by blending modern technology with cultural heritage.

Established in 1953, the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Theatre’s (GOH) extensive facility, located in Guangzhou's Yuexiu district, has a total floor area of approximately 40,000 square meters and includes a 1,200-seat Grand Theatre, a 500-seat theatre, and three 60-seat cinemas.

Cantonese Opera, one of the traditional Chinese opera genres, has a rich history spanning more than 300 years in Guangdong and the Cantonese-speaking regions of Guangxi and, in 2009, was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Last year, GOH hosted the inaugural Chinese Culture Festival from June to October and aims to continue to represent Chinese culture among the world's leading theatres.

The creation of Hung Sin-nui Theatre and Red Bean Hall serves as a cultural centre for Cantonese Opera and ensures a solid base for its revitalisation.

DiGiCo's Chinese distribution partner, RACPRO, installed a DiGiCo SD5 console in the Hung Sin-nui Theatre. This space honours the famous Cantonese opera artist Hung Sin-Nui, who received the first Chinese Opera Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. The SD5 is equipped with 37 physical faders and three 15-inch LCD high-resolution touch screens, displaying key information for 253 channels. Located in the control booth at the rear of the stalls, the console's low profile ensures good sight lines, and its larger mix surface allows easy access to every channel.

In the region, red beans have long been a symbol of romantic longing, a yearning for enduring love. The Red Bean Hall is named to remind people of Premier Zhou Enlai's praise, who once said that Cantonese Opera was the "Southern Red Bean”.

The audio team installed the DiGiCo Quantum 338 as its main mixing console, situated in a booth at the back of the stalls. The Quantum 338 has 128 input channels and 64 output busses and provides additional channel processing for the main output and matrix, which brings more powerful processing capabilities and extremely flexible workflows. GOH believes that the choice of the Quantum 338 for the Red Bean Hall will promote the development of performing arts in a more refined and systematic way.

GOH's investment in performers includes the development of art training courses, the first theatre-affiliated children's choir, the first children's ballet troupe, the first youth marching band and the first youth string orchestra, all with highly professional standards. It also created the unique art training mode of ‘Classroom × Stage’ to cultivate artistic talents, training over 19,000 young artists and building the ‘Arts Boost’, an art management professional exchange and learning platform to ensure a strong pool of future talent.

GOH has a long history but is constantly looking to the future, with its investment in ground-breaking technology and in the next generation of performers, the Opera House promises to remain a vibrant part of Chinese culture.