House Lights for a Classical Performance

[kesowul]

Good morning all,

I just wanted to hear what other are doing regarding house lights for a classical (orchestra) concert.

Here's what we've been doing...

1. House @ FL for patron load in.
2. House to 50% for pre show announcement.
3. House sits at 25% for classical performance.
4. During breaks between pieces (for tuning), house stays at 25%.
5. Intermission house @ FL
6. House back to 25% for the rest of the performance.
7. Entertainers exit stage before encore & bows - house stays at 25%
8. Entertainers leave the stage - House @ FL

I know part of this comes down to preference, but I was wondering if there is some sort of unspoken protocol used for classical performances. Everyone here seems to have their own idea of what this should look like and just wanted to hear what others are doing.

Thanks!

 

[ElGusto]

Sounds about right. I usually include a House to half after intermission. But other wise the same.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Generally we follow that procedure. We take out our house lights completely and leave hallway & path lights at full and our "soffit lighting" around the edges of the seating area is left at 30%. Plenty of light for the errant child removal or bathroom breaks that inevitably occur.

Beyond that it's whatever the client wants. I've had a few give me more details than you listed and at least one who started the concert, got through the first piece and started the second without us realizing that she was done warming up. No cues whatsoever and a director that was not concerned about such things. It was also like 10 minutes before the scheduled curtain.

 

[SteveB]

Basically the same. with a down to half in the intermission

The only "standard" I've seen with classical music is to have the house at a comfortable reading level, so the patrons can read the program and see name of piece, etc... In our house, where the house is dim to begin with, that level is sometimes 35-37 % and I've been asked for 50% by company manager/SM types.

 

[Les]

Another "sounds about right" vote from me. Though I rarely ever run house lights at FL.

 

[chausman]

Again, sounds right. And again going to half even for a few seconds after intermission.

Another "sounds about right" vote from me. Though I rarely ever run house lights at FL.

Depends on the venue. I've found most local venues have pretty pathetic house lighting so FL is generally appreciated.

 

[StradivariusBone]

Depends on the venue. I've found most local venues have pretty pathetic house lighting so FL is generally appreciated.

Our's are a PITA to change out so we profile them to 90% is full to save some life and when in general work scenarios they are only running at half. I know there's some debate over the halogen cycle not being activated, but so far so good.

 

[Les]

Depends on the venue. I've found most local venues have pretty pathetic house lighting so FL is generally appreciated.

As goes without saying, yes, levels are extremely venue-specific.

I never concern myself with the halogen cycle since the house lights are usually run to full at some point during the night, like cleanup for example. FWIW, I have heard that 90% is plenty.

 

[kesowul]

Thanks everyone for your replies so far, it's much appreciated! Before we get too off topic, I'm most interested in the calling of the houselights for this type of show rather than a technical discussion about house lighting. I too, have our house lights profiled and like others have said it's all venue specific. Our house lights (chandeliers) are not built for direct lighting which almost requires us to run them at full.

Does anybody have a different approach to handling house light cues for a classical type event?

 

[StradivariusBone]

For the actual calling I usually rely on my stage manager to be a point of contact with the talent. Early on I'll acquaint the two and if all goes well the SM should be able to determine which head nod means start your engines. Again, because every director is different it can end up being "house to half at exactly 7:02pm, stage up at 7:03pm" or "I might let you know when we plan to start, but it will almost assuredly be well after we originally planned to."

From that point forward it's a lot easier because my SM will call for lights based on what the group is doing. We do a lot of personnel changes from the orchestra seating to the stage and will always bring up house lights for that so no one trips from poor lighting. If we have to move chairs we almost always drop the stage lights and raise the house. It's never fun to do "performance-style" stage setting since there's always that smarmy youngin' that will start clapping for the tech crew. For some concerts (since we do a lot of HS/MS band/chorus/orch stuff) I'll preload these cues into our preset controller which can then be fired on stage so my light op can help the SM with chair movement between groups. This is usually for our local schools and it helps them out and usually gets everyone home sooner.

 

[Les]

I never had the luxury of working with a stage manager for these types of performances - I've always been the one-man-show running sound and lights in the booth (then clean and lock up afterward). These were usually simple performances though, with no changes to the stage setup.

What I have found is that every group is different in their lighting requests and that there is no single procedure that everyone is happy with.