Another little memory from the last year in Europe... this time from a trip to Italy, in the very pleasant region of Pistoia. We had a last concert of a tour here, and we had stayed in a pleasant villa just outside of the town... which also led to an early morning plane flight that I had written about quite a long time ago.
Anyway, the Teatro Manzoni, a little theatre which has a concert series. You can find many of these places in these Italian towns... little old theatres that have managed to last through the decades and centuries. Oddly enough, many of them look very similar on the inside!
So, this is the theatre as pictured from the stage... box seats on the top and a general seating on the bottom... unfortunately, unraked, so it makes it a bit difficult for audiences to see well. It is more of a speaking theatre than a music one... the difference in acoustic is quite profound for a musician (or an actor). The speaking theatres usually emphasise a dryer acoustic, and one that maximises for clarity... whilst a music place will have a slightly wetter acoustic that is better for blending.
Obviously, as a musician, I do prefer a place that has a wetter acoustic.. the dry ones are a bit harsh and quite difficult to play in. On the other hand, with the dryer acoustics, you can play around more with the softer end of the dynamic range of instruments.
The stage was a bit cramped for a full orchestra and choir... perhaps a chamber ensemble would work better here?
Anyway, I had mentioned that the audience seats weren't raked... but instead, the stage is slightly sloped to help with sightlines for the audience. This is quite a common trick for spoken word theatres... but it is pretty annoying as a musician... especially if you are sitting down!
Still, it was a nice place to play in... even if the acoustic wasn't the best.... at least the sound shell helped a bit! And often, when you are in less than ideal conditions... well, you just step up and make it work! Well... that is probably the better strategy rather than a righteous crank-out!