Teatro zandonai in Rovereto, Italy: a case study for restoration

Early in 2002 the Municipality of Rovereto, North Italy, planned the theatre restoration works, which were ended in success by reopening of the theatre on October 18th 2014 with the 9th Beethoven Symphony. The most important interventions regarded the raising of the stage tower by 5 m, the revision of the stalls floor, the refurbishing of structures and box finishing and the implementation of a new air ventilation system. During the works acoustics were monitored step by step by dedicated acoustical measures and predictions to ensure that the many changes introduced in the stage-house and in the hall did not compromise the good reputation that acoustics had among local theatre goers and musicians. In a 2006 work the authors showed the current state of the works, but at that time more was to come. In this work the problems encountered will be reviewed with special emphasis to the prediction, verification and final tuning of the impact of the stage-house on the main hall. In fact, the “as built” fly tower differed from the original design and thus an additional acoustics assessment was necessary to comply with the initial requirements. Other issues related to the acoustical properties of surfaces in the boxes seemed decisive together with the refurbishment of the original seats. Data and predictions supporting the work will be presented and the performance of this opera theatre as a concert hall will be briefly discussed too.