Venice, Italy (October 3, 2019)—Italian pro-audio manufacturer RCF pulled out all the stops when it celebrated its 70 anniversary on September 19, taking over the Venice Arsenal to pack it with nearly 500 distributors, dealers and noted customers around around the world for an evening of food, company history and a special performance by opera superstar Andrea Bocelli.
After cocktails, a buffet by two-Michelin starred chef Massimiliano (Max) Alajmo (of Le Calandre fame) and a 70 birthday cake, guests were then invited next door, where RCF Group CEO Arturo Vicari addressed the crowd, closing with a surprise announcement that Bocelli would be performing.
For 60 minutes-plus, guests were treated to a recital of light opera and populist classics, with the orchestra boosted by Cuban soprano Maria Aleida, Ukrainian principal violinist Anastasiya Petrishak and another regular of Andrea Bocelli’s ensemble, Italian singer Laria Della Bidia. The performance led to two encores, firstly for Sartori’s “Con te partirò” and then “Nessun Dorma” starring Bocelli and Petrishak.
The PA for the evening was tackled by RCF’s Engineering Support Group (ESG), which fashioned a central cluster design that met the artist’s rider requirements while ensuring coverage of the entire audience. The cluster comprised ten elements of the active HDL 26-A in a compact, curved line array configuration, with single TT 2-A satellite speakers out wide on each side to provide separation. A straight line of seven TT 10-A enclosures, electronically curved using RCF’s proprietary RDNet, provided front fills, near a large complement of 13 SUB 9006-AS in a straight line.
Mixing Andre Bocelli’s vocals and the soloists on a DiGiCo SD7 was Andrea Taglia, the artist’s long term FOH engineer, who also received a separate orchestra mix from a second SD7, created by another long-term collaborator, Francesco La Camera.
RCF • www.rcf.it
