In November 2023, Le Balcon continued its ambitious staging of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Licht cycle with Sonntag aus Licht at the Philharmonie de Paris. Presented as part of the Festival d'Automne, the production brought together singers, choirs, orchestras, solo instruments, electronics and sound projection in a work where space is integral to the composition itself.
At the request of conductor Maxime Pascal and Florent Derex, co-founder of Le Balcon and responsible for sound projection, HOLOPHONIX deployed a real-time spatialisation system combining its multi-algorithm processing platform with an L-Acoustics loudspeaker system.
Translating Stockhausen's spatial writing into the auditorium
Composed between 1998 and 2003, Sonntag aus Licht is the final completed opera in Stockhausen's monumental seven-part Licht cycle. Throughout the work, sound, movement and spatial relationships form part of the musical language, extending composition beyond pitch and rhythm into the physical space of the performance.
For Le Balcon's production, directed by Ted Huffman according to Stockhausen's indications, spatialisation therefore had to function as part of the dramaturgy rather than as an added effect.
HOLOPHONIX provided the real-time processing environment used to position and move singers, musicians and electronic elements through the loudspeaker system, while L-Acoustics provided the sound reinforcement throughout the venues.
From pre-production to performance
The spatialisation workflow extended beyond the performances themselves. HOLOPHONIX Native was used during pre-production, allowing the team to prepare spatial behaviours ahead of rehearsals before transferring the work to the live system at the Philharmonie.
During the performances, HOLOPHONIX's multi-algorithm processing enabled different spatialisation approaches to coexist within a single environment, giving the sound team the flexibility required by a score conceived around movement and spatial relationships.
The production unfolded across five scenes and three performances, with scenes 1 and 2 presented in the Salle des concerts at the Cité de la musique on 16 and 17 November, followed by scenes 3, 4 and 5 in the Grande salle Pierre Boulez on 20 November.
By combining HOLOPHONIX processing with an L-Acoustics loudspeaker system, the production translated Stockhausen's multispatial conception of music into the architecture of the Philharmonie, allowing sound to move through space as an integral part of the work.
