Each summer, the world’s largest floating stage rises in Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria, showcasing some of the most ambitious sound designs on the international stage. The Bregenz Festival, renowned for spectacular opera productions set against the open water, has become a benchmark for how cutting-edge audio technology can merge seamlessly with artistic vision. Drawing more than 200,000 visitors annually over just five weeks, it is one of the most widely attended festivals of its kind.
Clemens Wannemacher, head of the sound department at the Bregenz Festival, previously worked as a sound engineer at the Volkstheater in Vienna and the Dresden State Operetta. At Bregenz, he carefully balances singers, orchestra and overall dynamics to create a compelling auditory experience. Despite external factors such as wind and rain, which can dramatically affect dynamic range, he ensures every performance sounds natural and immersive. Together with his team, he blends the live orchestra, soloists, effects and playback tracks into a seamless sonic experience reaching every corner of the vast open-air venue.
From early visions to a lifelong connection with music
In an interview with the NYC Daily Post, Wannemacher reflected on his relationship with music and technology:
“Music has been an integral part of my life from a very young age, but it soon became clear to me that I would not pursue a career as a professional musician, while still wanting to remain deeply connected to music. In this role, I have found an ideal combination of complex technology and the highest artistic standards, and it is immensely rewarding to present this production on the lake stage alongside highly professional colleagues,” Wannemacher explained.
Conquering the acoustic demands of the Lake Stage
For the 2024 and 2025 production of Freischütz, the floating stage at Bregenz was constructed on a monumental scale, measuring approximately 80 meters in depth and 90 meters in width, with a portal about 40 meters wide. According to ProSoundWeb, the closest spectators were seated less than 20 meters from the stage edge, while the grandstand accommodated 6,658 people. These dimensions present a sound system challenge capable of delivering a spatial audio experience comparable to an indoor opera house.
This staging presented unique acoustic challenges. Freischütz includes an unusually high proportion of spoken dialogue — around 40 percent dialogue and 60 percent singing — requiring that speech intelligibility be treated with the same care as the music. “Our task is to ensure that the dialogues are clearly amplified, while at the same time avoiding any risk of feedback,” Wannemacher stated.
To meet these demands, the sound department relied on a system of remarkable scale and precision.
Central to the design is a sophisticated audio matrix — internally known as the “directional mixer” — with 64 input and 256 output channels, each crosspoint offering level, delay, and EQ adjustments. First introduced in 2006 and refined over the years, the system allows Wannemacher and his team to implement “directional hearing.” This technique precisely amplifies each singer from their exact stage position and tracks their movements in real time. For the 2024 production of Freischütz, 66 of the roughly 400 speakers were integrated directly into the stage design to support this localization.
“I would describe the sound in Bregenz as large and impressive. What always amazes me is the precision of the localization. You can just listen effortlessly without thinking about what is happening in the background. And I think that’s the magic we achieve here,” Wannemacher said.
Precision mixing and teamwork behind the console
At the heart of the operation lies the mixing desk. Under Wannemacher’s overall direction, FOH mixing in a 7.1 format setup was carried out on a Lawo mc²96 console with a redundant Nova73 HD matrix. The orchestra was miked across more than 40 VCAs representing instrumental sections, often routed hierarchically, allowing precise control without sacrificing musical flow. Instead of relying on overwhelming volume, the focus was on detail, transparency and audience immersion. In doing so, the engineers redefined what it means to create intimacy in a venue that seats nearly 7,000 people.
The sound design for Freischütz was not a solo effort. It was a collaboration with his deputy, Alwin Bösch, who has been creating sound design for the lake stage for almost 30 years and therefore brings extensive experience, particularly in setting up the directional mixer.
“The topic is even more complex: we are using two mixing consoles. The LAWO mc²96 (with UHD Core) serves as the mixer for orchestra, choir, playback, effects, stage music, and so on,” Wannemacher explained, “in addition, we used a DiGiCo Quantum 338 T to mix the soloists, including their effects. This year, Moritz Kerschbaum and Jonas Reiter were at the LAWO console, while Paul Scheliga and Dominic Dienst were at the DiGiCo console.”
Inside the pit: How microphones shape the orchestra’s sound at Bregenz
When asked about the orchestra microphone setup, Clemens Wannemacher emphasized the unique advantage of Bregenz:
“We have the huge advantage that the orchestra is seated in the large hall of the festival theatre and its sound is transmitted from there to the outdoors. This gives us a wonderful sound body in a very acoustically favorable space, which we only need to microphone well. However, if for certain reasons the performance on the lake stage cannot take place or cannot continue (approaching thunderstorm, heavy rain, etc.), we have to clear everything that looks like ‘technical equipment’ from the hall within 20 minutes, and the performance is then carried out indoors without amplification.”
Building on this favorable acoustic environment, Wannemacher explained how the microphone strategy aligns with the festival’s surround sound system:
“Since we have an elaborate surround sound system in the audience area, with speakers on three levels, my approach was to microphone the space accordingly. We have 1. speakers under the seats, 2. speakers approximately at ear level, and 3. speakers positioned significantly higher. The approach is quite simple. The signals played through the speakers under the seats come from two boundary microphones placed under the first row in the hall. It should be noted that the speakers we use for this have four full-range drivers arranged in an A-B-A-B configuration, meaning that two separate signals can be reproduced through a single speaker cabinet. By playing two as uncorrelated signals as possible (two boundary microphones about 10 m apart) through them, comb filtering effects are avoided, and the sound becomes largely independent of the audience’s seating position.”
He went on to describe the additional layers of microphone placement that complete the orchestral image:
“At the ‘ear level,’ we use the signals from a Josephson C700 microphone, from which we matrix two surround channels (approximately 120° to the left and right rear), as well as two MK22 microphones, which are reproduced as Wide Left and Wide Right. The speakers on the top level reproduce the signals from the Hamasaki Square. In addition, we also use a Vivace system from Müller-BBM to artificially extend the reverberation time slightly.”
For Wannemacher, the philosophy is rooted in combining unusual tools with a recording-like approach:
“In principle, it is a recording setup, though with somewhat more unusual microphone types than one might normally use. In particular, I also use ribbon microphones for the brass as well as for the strings playing behind the first and second violins, in order not to capture unnecessary high frequencies that the audience in the hall wouldn’t hear anyway. The second special aspect is the four MK2S microphones for the double basses, which I mix in with a high-cut at around 1 kHz. Additionally, I use two TLM170 R microphones, each positioned with some distance in front of the two rows (two players per row) of the double basses, to capture the double bass section as a whole.”
Transparency as power
Wannemacher implemented a point-source loudspeaker system for the Festival’s outdoor productions, efficiently managing the challenges of amplifying a live orchestra and complex stage set while ensuring clarity, directionality and natural sound. Manufacturers such as KV2 Audio and Kling & Freitag supplied custom solutions, with hundreds of speakers hidden in architectural elements and sculptures so that sound follows the audience’s gaze, aligning optics and acoustics in a unique way.
“I’d had my eye on KV2 since 2019 when I was working on another lake stage in Mörbisch am See and was looking to upgrade the frontfills and main PA. Martin Lukesch, head of sound at the Volksoper in Vienna, mentioned that I should listen to KV2, so we organised a shoot-out amongst several brands. That’s when I heard KV2’s ESR212 and ESR215 for the first time,” Wannemacher recalled in an interview with KV2 Audio.
The Bregenz Festival has always pushed the boundaries of staging. With Wannemacher’s commitment to sonic innovation, the festival demonstrates how technology can elevate not only the spectacle but also the subtle emotional truth of opera. In doing so, it sets an example for the future of live performance worldwide: that sound, when designed with the same artistry as visuals, can transform a theatrical experience into something truly unforgettable.
Photos by Cristan Carillo, Martin Lukesch & Marco Kuhnmünch
Edited by James Sutton
