Chopin Gala Concert

Design and construction: 2010

Client: The Grand Theatre – National Opera, Warsaw, Poland

Location: The Grand Theatre – National Opera, Theatre Square, Warsaw

Team: Boris Kudlička, Marcin Mostafa, Natalia Paszkowska, Iwona Borkowska

The stage design for the Chopin Gala Concert is an ethereal concert bow made of strings of various length hanging on a 90x90cm regular grid. The concept of the project, choice of materials and density of the hanging elements was strongly influenced by acoustic conditions. The environment of the orchestra playing on an empty stage was supposed to absorb sound as little as possible, but at the same time to compose the background for the musicians observed both by the audience and TV cameras.

Each of the strings has 5 sparkling points at its end which are placed with various distances creating variable depth of the surface above and around the musicians. Turning around with the movement of the air small cylindrical beads made a dynamic spectacle of light giving an impression of blinking stars and lasting all the concert.