The technical backbone of the stage management system
The stage management technical room is a crucial hub within the theater’s technical infrastructure. It serves as a central interface between the Stage Management Console, the audio control room, and the theater’s various audio and media technology systems, facilitating the distribution and interconnection of signals between these systems.
Additional connections are located in the air-mixing room, situated directly beneath the auditorium’s parquet floor. One important function of this infrastructure is to provide a direct connection for an auditorium microphone used during rehearsals.
Through floor-mounted connection points in the auditorium, a microphone can be connected via a 5-metre network patch cable. It is routed into the theater’s Dante audio network via a dedicated patch panel in the air-mixing room.
This setup is particularly useful during lighting rehearsals, when the director or lighting designer needs to communicate with performers and other personnel on stage, in the wings, or backstage. In addition, the theater also uses wireless handheld director’s microphones: one is assigned to the director and another to the conductor. These microphones are distributed by members of the audio department before the start of a rehearsal, providing a flexible means of communication throughout the theater.
Another important component of the technical infrastructure is located on the so-called “Lusterboden”, high up in the building. A master clock by the company Meinberg is installed there, receiving its time reference via a GPS antenna mounted on the roof and generating different timing signals for the theater’s technical networks. It serves as the central master clock for the entire Stage Management Console network and simultaneously acts as the master clock for the AES67-based network used by the Riedel communication system.
In addition, the Meinberg clock provides NTP (Network Time Protocol), allowing other systems, including the audio department’s equipment, to obtain time information over the network. The device has four network ports, enabling it to connect to the different networks and systems.
The ”Lusterboden” also houses the theater’s core network switches. These form the central nodes of a star-shaped network topology, with connections branching out from the core switches to the various systems and locations throughout the theater.
A console designed around the people who use it
The technical architecture is only one part of the project. Equally important was the question of how the new system should actually be operated.
The user interface was another area in which Lukesch’s requirements played a central role, as Peham explained:
“Martin Lukesch also set new standards in the design of the user interfaces. The arrangement of the controls was consistently tailored to the requirements of focused and safe operation during rehearsals and performances. This resulted in an ergonomic workstation that is both functional and intuitive to operate, optimally supporting the workflows of stage management.”
The emphasis on preserving familiar workflows also shaped the training and re-programming process that followed.
Training and reprogramming for the new system
PKE provided comprehensive hands-on training, familiarizing the stage managers with the console’s new functions, operating principles, and expanded capabilities.
Head of Stage Management Celia Tafaj, together with the other stage managers, received training in operating and programming the new system. Following the initial training, the stage-management team began re-programming the productions for the new console, working closely with Erik Sagatelyan from PKE.
Rather than simply transferring the existing programming, the stage managers adapted and rebuilt the production-specific sequences for the new control architecture.
These sequences include the stage-management calls used to coordinate different technical departments during a performance. Depending on the production, they can include cues for lighting, sound, stage operations, the fly system, stage lifts and other elements of stage and production control.
Each production therefore has to be programmed and tested individually to ensure that its calls and sequences can be executed reliably and at the correct moments during a performance.
Celia Tafaj described the training, the re-programming process and her experience of working with the new system as follows:
“For me, the process began with the design and configuration of the user interface. The real challenge was to transfer familiar routines and well-functioning workflows to the new console while still taking advantage of the technological advances of the past 20 years. Because we have very well-established routines in the stressful day-to-day working environment, it was very important to me to retain the button assignments and software user interface, as well as the systems that work well for everyone.
I found it challenging to communicate our needs and workflows to the programmers, as their approach was completely different from ours. Fortunately, through my collaboration with Martin, I found a good “translator.” All in all, I am very happy and grateful for the really good cooperation between Martin and me. With his technical expertise and our combined many years of experience in our respective professions, I believe we managed to make the project exceptionally successful.”
The interview with Tafaj therefore adds an important practical dimension to the project. The success of the new system is not measured only by its technical specifications, but also by whether experienced stage managers can use it intuitively under the pressure of live performance.
From implementation to trial operation
The project then entered its final stages of testing, troubleshooting and on-site training in August, followed by acceptance and handover. Project documentation is scheduled to continue through September, while the new system will enter an extended trial operation running until June 2027.
PKE’s Peham described the completion of the implementation:
“PKE was able to hand over the system to the Volksoper Wien on schedule and fully operational at the beginning of the autumn 2026 season. Of particular value to us were the numerous practical suggestions and requirements provided by the venue, which were directly incorporated into the implementation and made a significant contribution to the quality of the final result.”
The successful handover was the result of a process that depended on close cooperation between the theater, the planners and the system integrator, with on-site construction supervision providing an important link between the technical specifications and their practical realization.
Peham concluded:
“Our special thanks go to everyone involved in the project for their dedicated, professional and collaborative work throughout the entire project.”
This extended trial period is particularly relevant for a system embedded so deeply into the day-to-day operation of a theater. The stage management console is not an isolated workstation but a central interface connecting numerous technical systems and departments throughout the building.
The system will therefore continue to be observed and refined in actual theatrical operation, where the interaction between technology, workflows and live performance can be evaluated under real conditions.
A milestone for the Volksoper Vienna
The project constitutes a major investment in the future of one of Vienna’s most renowned music theater houses. By bringing together digital video, modernized stage infrastructure, sophisticated wired and wireless communication and emergency communication capabilities, the new stage management console forms part of a much broader technological development.
The result is not simply a new console, but a new communication and technical infrastructure connecting the theater’s various working environments.
For the Volksoper, the modernization marks an important step toward ensuring that its technical capabilities continue to meet the demands of contemporary music theater.
The Volksoper Vienna’s Commercial Director Christoph Ladstätter described the institutional significance of the modernization as follows:
“With the new Stage Management Console, we are not only investing in a single technical installation, but in the long-term future viability of the Volksoper. For me, it is crucial that technological modernisation does not take place for its own sake, but enables the people who work with it every day to operate in a reliable and up-to-date environment. Particularly in theater, many artistic and technical processes come together every evening. This requires infrastructure that can be relied upon. Although such investments usually remain invisible to our audiences, they are of great importance to the daily operation and further development of a theater. I therefore see this modernisation as an important step in ensuring that the Volksoper remains technologically well positioned in the long term and prepared for the demands of the future.”
As theater continues to incorporate increasingly sophisticated digital technologies, projects such as the modernization of the Volksoper’s stage management console demonstrate technological development is not separate from artistic production. Rather, it forms an essential part of the infrastructure that allows complex performances to happen reliably, safely and at the highest professional level.
At the Volksoper Vienna, the new stage management console is consequently much more than a new technical workstation. It is a central component of the theater’s transition into a digitally connected future.
Edited by James Sutton
