In spring 2025, the Paris Opera presented Il Viaggio, Dante, a contemporary opera by Pascal Dusapin, blending music and immersive technology in a groundbreaking production at the Palais Garnier. Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, and staged by Claus Guth with musical direction by Kent Nagano, this production fuses art and technology to offer an unprecedented sensory journey.
At the heart of this immersive experience lies a one-of-a-kind electro-acoustic system designed by HOLOPHONIX and entirely built around Amadeus loudspeakers — marking a historic first at the Palais Garnier.
To meet the acoustic complexity of the Italian-style theater, HOLOPHONIX deployed its advanced spatialization processor to project sound naturally and precisely, enhancing the presence of solo voices and orchestral elements without additional amplification. Based on the principles of Wave Field Synthesis, the system creates virtual sound sources across the stage using highly accurate delay and amplitude control.
The setup combined an array of loudspeakers suspended from the proscenium for frontal reinforcement, a few front-fill speakers, around ten loudspeakers positioned in the stage house, and another ten distributed throughout the auditorium, dedicated to surround effects.
This installation was the result of close collaboration between sound designer Thierry Coduys, long-time musical assistant to Dusapin, and the technical teams of HOLOPHONIX and Amadeus. The installation replaces the hybrid sound system used in the 2022 Aix-en-Provence premiere with a fully Amadeus-based diffusion setup, featuring models such as the C15-90, C12R, and PMX 5 MKIV speakers — all integrated through the HOLOPHONIX Ultra processor.
Beyond the spatialization of music, the opera incorporates cinematic sequences and electroacoustic interludes, further blurring the boundaries between theater, film, and sound installation. This production demonstrates how cutting-edge spatial audio can transform opera, not by amplifying it, but by deepening the listener’s immersion and emotional connection.
Instead of projecting sound from a single point, we diffuse it as a uniform wave, ensuring a consistent experience for every audience member.
notes Thierry Coduys.
For HOLOPHONIX and Amadeus, Il Viaggio, Dante at the Paris Opera is more than a technical achievement — it’s a milestone in the evolution of live performance sound, offering a glimpse into the future of opera.
