For the seventh straight year, Riedel Communications Switzerland AG provided a comprehensive communications infrastructure for the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen, held last August in the historic old town of Winterthur, Switzerland. In its biggest commitment to date for the world-famous music festival, Riedel supplied a communications and signal routing backbone based on its Bolero wireless intercom and MediorNet real-time signal transport, processing, and routing technology.
Now in its 45th year, the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen showcases the best in Swiss music including international newcomers, promotion of young talent, and an exciting supporting program. The festival spanned 12 days and included five stages, featuring over 70 acts and supported by 1,000 volunteers.
“The Musikfestwochen grows bigger every year, and this year’s production was the largest and most complex ever,” said Sandra Smolcic, Co-Director of the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen. “It is essential that we have an experienced and reliable partner at our side, and Riedel Switzerland is that partner. It’s the perfect win-win situation: We get a first-class and tailor-made communications backbone, while Riedel Switzerland leverages our close partnership to implement new concepts and solutions at the festival. With its local Swiss presence, Riedel’s close proximity to our operation and optimal service are also critical success factors.”
Riedel once again provided the radio-based communications infrastructure for this year’s festival, deploying 110 digital radios and seven radio groups to serve the organization, security, and medical services as well as supply and cleaning. Working within the constraints of the special and challenging infrastructure of the old town, Riedel devised a solution for optimal radio coverage by installing a repeater in the bell tower of the city church.
For the first time, Riedel added 15 beltpacks of the award-winning Bolero wireless intercom system integrated with three MediorNet modular frames. The MediorNet nodes networked the front of house, stage, and sidestage. Thanks to the range of the Bolero beltpacks, Riedel was able to cover the entire festival area, spanning the entire old town of Winterthur, with just four antennas.
“As an outstanding cross-disciplinary festival that is carried out with a lot of passion and initiative, the Musikfestwochen in Winterthur is particularly close to our hearts,” said Roger Hess, General Manager, Riedel Switzerland. “Rich in tradition, the music festival is growing steadily without losing any of its unique charm. At the same time, the demands and challenges placed on organizers and infrastructure expand every year. In this sense, the festival is a wonderful example of the scalability and flexibility of our solutions.”
