Maestro Zubin Mehta and the Bavarian State Orchestra recently hosted a landmark event known as “Ehsaas-e-Kashmir” (Concert for Kashmir) in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The town of Srinagar had not witnessed any official form of cultural activity since a cricket match in 1983, making this one of the most eagerly anticipated concerts in recent times. Nearly 2,000 guests attended the event hosted by the German Embassy in the Shalimar Gardens in Srinagar.
Mehta, the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and main conductor for Valencia’s opera house, was fulfilling his lifelong dream of performing in the beauty and serenity of the Shalimar Gardens.
The garden is over 500 meters in length with natural waters running through the grounds before feeding into the famous Dal Lake. A nineteenth century Mughal house was chosen as the backdrop. The setting provided many challenges with the stage needing to be constructed across many different levels for the orchestra.
For sound reinforcement, India’s Sound and Light Professionals (SNL Pro) debuted its brand new L-Acoustics K1 rig for this historic event.
The main array only had to cover 65 meters as the concert was for a very select audience.
When the final venue layout was determined it was sent to System Engineer Bruce Rodericks who used SOUNDVISION to predict the required inventory.
The arrays, hung from scaffolding constructed to the left-right of the stage, consisted of two K1-SB and six K1. Two SB28 subwoofers were groundstacked under the arrays. Three pairs of 115XT HiQ served as front-fills. The end result was even coverage throughout the seating in the outdoor location.
Four LA-RAKs powered the system with three LA8 in each controlled by the LA NETWORK.
Jakob Palfrader, the front of house engineer for the Bavarian State Orchestra, was very pleased to see the L-Acoustics K1.
The magical evening was one of the many landmark events that the SNL Pro team is proud to be a part of. The concert was televised live in 32 countries, streamed live on YouTube and filmed in HD for a future concert DVD.
