Ooppera Baletti: Das Rheingold

The Finnish National Opera takes its lighting design to the next level with ALBION.

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet (FNO) has invested in the ALBION tracking system, along with 12 cameras and 10 COPERNIC performer packs, putting the opera house at the bleeding edge of lighting design.

Mikki Kunttu, lighting designer at the FNO, first encountered ALBION through his work with Cirque de Soleil before convincing the FNO to rent ALBION for their production of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. They were so impressed that they decided to invest in their own ALBION tracking system. With ALBION, the FNO can now track opera performers and set pieces with much greater accuracy and repeatability than with spotlight operators. ALBION also frees the FNO from fixed spotlight positions, allowing lighting designers to create more interesting angles and granting them more creative flexibility. All of this is made possible by ALBION’s seamless integration with their grandMA lighting console.

“ALBION is working properly day after day, which is absolutely great.” – Kimmo Ruskela, Finnish National Opera

FNO is one of the first—if not the first—operas to use tracking in their lighting design. It’s fitting for this company, which takes extraordinary care in its productions, doing everything from shoemaking to metalwork in-house. VYV systems engineer Richard Thomas provided on-site training for the FNO’s lighting team. ALBION has now been used to great effect in a few operas, and the FNO is now at work on implementing the ALBION tracking system for lighting their upcoming ballet, Pippi Longstocking, and on tracking video. We can’t wait to see what they do with ALBION next.