Cavatina Hall

A unique multi-functional building combining office and cultural spaces, Poland’s newly-constructed Cavatina Hall opened its doors at the start of this year. It is the only privately owned and funded concert hall in the country and its owners’ uncompromising approach to design demonstrates their ambition for the venue to become a landmark on Europe’s cultural map.
The six-storey multifunctional building counts over 9,000 square metres of A-class office space, a chamber music hall, and a cutting-edge recording studio. But the crown jewel of the building is the 1,000-capacity concert hall which boasts a state-of-the-art stage, with AV technology integrated into an extensive digital and analogue network, and L-Acoustics’ progressive L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal sound technology, delivered by Warsaw-based L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor, Audio Plus.

The venue was created by Cavatina Holding, of one of Poland’s largest property development companies. The stunning building is strategically situated in the multi-cultural Southern Poland city of Bielsko-Biała, an industrial and artistic hub nestled in the beautiful Beskidy mountains. Among the events hosted in the city is the historic jazz festival Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, which now takes place in Cavatina Hall.

Cavatina’s team went to great lengths to ensure the quality of the system by submitting the technical design to be audited by the London office of Sound Space Vision. A virtual acoustic model of the hall, including wooden elements such as the waves in the sub-balconies, a combination of resonance boxes each tuned to a different frequency, was also independently tested in the Acoustics Department laboratory of the Institute of Building Technology in Warsaw. This ensured the acoustic and technological designs would work in perfect harmony and further validate the trust placed in Audio Plus.

The specification ranks Cavatina Hall as a venue with one of the largest L-ISA installations in Europe, and one in which Audio Plus delivers the ultimate in audio fidelity. In total, 141 L-Acoustics cabinets are distributed in a 360-degree configuration. The frontal system is based on seven hangs of six Kiva II and an SB15m spanning the width of the stage, with further low frequency delivered by four KS28 subs suspended above the audience in an end-fire arrangement. Eight 5XT serve spatial front-fill, while a further nine 5XT serve audio for the seats in the two balconies behind the stage. Two additional X8 cabinets are used as in-fill and six X8 cover the balconies, while 28 further X8, 14 at each balcony level, are placed as effect cabinets. The system is controlled by two redundant L-ISA Processors.

Much thought was given to the audio network; it is one of the largest in the country. A total of 43 signal connections are installed across the venue, located in the stage, audience and backstage area, in the entrance hall, recording studio, on the lighting bridges, the roof patio for external concerts, and in the underground garage for broadcast vehicles.

The concert hall boasts four of the latest DiGiCo Quantum 338 consoles, one for front of house and one for monitors. Signal distribution between FOH, , and the recording studio is via Optocore, with AuviTran convertors forming an integrated network. Signals to the studio or broadcast truck are via either Dante, MADI, or analogue, depending on the end devise. The Optocore/Auvitran system can handle up to 1856 digital signals. Analogue signals are split by a 96-channel analogue splitter, whilst Optocore can handle a further 96 analogue signals delivering the most complete, versatile way method of signal distribution.