Venue Info – Concert Hall

Musiikkitalo enjoys a fantastic location in the heart of the Finnish capital, between the main railway station and Parliament. Our building can be entered via Mannerheimintie and Kansalaistori Square, with a further entrance to the Sibelius Academy on Töölönlahdenkatu.

Our street address is Mannerheimintie 13a, 00100 Helsinki

 
Read more about arriving here.

Arriving at the Loading Dock

Loading dock instructions:
Deliveries and instrument transport for Musiikkitalo are handled via the loading dock on the 1st floor. Vehicle access to the loading dock is through the Aimo Park Finlandia gate at Karamzininranta 2.

Aimo Park Finlandia’s folding doors are open Mon-Sat 7 AM–10 PM and Sun 8 AM–10 PM. At other times, the Security Control Room will open the doors. Contact can be made via the door intercom or by phone at +358 20 707 0420

After entering through the doors, a turning area is located on the left, and the ramp to the upper level (1st floor) is on the right. The ramp leading down is for building maintenance vehicles only. Please note that after the turning area, there is not enough space to turn around a truck at the loading dock.

Maximum vehicle height

• 4.3 meters on the upper level
• 3.7 meters on the lower maintenance access level

Please note

• If you leave your vehicle, please leave your phone number clearly visible on the windshield.
• If needed, ask staff or security for assistance using the lift.
• Vehicles cannot be parked at the loading dock. Immediately after loading or unloading, vehicles must be moved to a parking facility, such as the adjacent Aimo Park Finlandia parking garage.

Loading
The transport route is level with the loading dock throughout. The distance from Loading Dock to Concert Hall is 40 meters flat push. The dimensions of the main loading door leading to the stage is 2870 x 2300mm. Please inform us well in advance if you have a significant number of cases requiring storage during the event.

All of Musiikkitalo’s halls provide wheelchair-accessible seating. In the Concert Hall, however, many stairs must be used to reach non-accessible seats. There are accessible restrooms on all floors of Musiikkitalo

Guide or assistance dogs are welcome at Musiikkitalo. For additional support, plain-language brochures and an online guidebook, ‘At a Concert in Musiikkitalo,’ are available. Picture communication boards can be downloaded or borrowed from the information desk.

Read more about the accessibility in Musiikkitalo from here.

Event organizers must use only the ticket sales services provided by Musiikkitalo, including purchasing tickets at Musiikkitalo and distributing free tickets to their own stakeholders.

Once you have accepted the event offers, the event producer will provide you with a link to the event information form. We use this form to collect all the necessary information for ticket sales and event publication. When planning ticket sales, it is advisable to familiarize yourself in advance with the ticket sales commissions and service fees outlined in the agreement and the event information form.

After the event information form has been submitted, we will contact you and assign you a dedicated contact person who will prepare the ticket sales in our system and assist you with any questions or changes from the start of ticket sales until the end of the event. It is advisable to allow approximately one week of processing time for ticket sales preparation after submitting the event information form. Once ticket sales have commenced, you can follow the sales in real-time using the reporting credentials provided separately.

For ticketing matters, one can contact Musiikkitalos ticket sales email lipunmyynti@musiikkitalo.fi, ticketing manager Oona Skogster oona.skogster@musiikkitalo.fi or your events dedicated contact person. One can ask for more information about the wheelchair accessible seating from the provided email addresses.

Event organizers are responsible for all marketing, advertising, announcements, and other sales promotion related to their event, unless otherwise agreed with Musiikkitalo. Musiikkitalo’s marketing team is also available to provide support for your promotional activities.

For promotion through Musiikkitalo’s marketing channels, please be in touch with your contact person at Musiikkitalo.

Digital media wall
Your concert will automatically be advertised on Musiikkitalo’s media wall, usually a few weeks before the event. Please coordinate the exact dates with our marketing team. If you are interested in having the concert streamed on the media wall, please contact your Musiikkitalo representative for more information.

Exclusive catering for Musiikkitalo events is provided by Compass Group. A wide range of options are available, from coffee service and light snacks to elaborate multi-course meals and cocktail receptions. Special dietary requests and needs can be accommodated. Compass Group can assist with event planning and logistics, including staffing and rentals.

Locations for the catering:
Catering can be arranged in various spaces within Musiikkitalo: The main lobby and foyer areas, Concert Hall lobby, Smaller meeting rooms and spaces.

Contact:
To discuss your catering needs and create a custom menu, please be in contact with Compass Group directly:

• Email:  ravintolapalvelut@musiikkitalo.fi
• Phone: +358 20 762 4862

We’re happy to accommodate merchandise sales. Please coordinate all event-related details with Musiikkitalo well in advance.

Musiikkitalo provides versatile and comfortable dressing room facilities for performers and staff, located primarily on the 1st and 2nd floors. All dressing rooms are equipped with private toilet and shower facilities. If needed, some other spaces can also be used as dressing rooms. Please arrange to reserve usage in advance.

Single person dressing rooms at 1st floor :

• 01104
• 01103
• K1236

Larger dressing rooms at 1st floor:

• K 1228
• K 1229

Larger dressing rooms at 2nd floor:

• O2103
• O2102
• O2101

It is possible to utilize fog and haze as a visual effect in Musiikkitalo’s main concert hall. The fog used in the hall is water vapor-based and completely safe for both the audience and the performers.

Pyrotechnics and open flames are strictly prohibited within Musiikkitalo premises, in compliance with safety regulations.

The use of lasers requires a user license granted by Säteilyturvakeskus (STUK), the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. Additionally, an announcement must be made to STUK regarding the commissioning of laser equipment.

Before commencing installation, the Musiikkitalo must be presented with the aforementioned user license, the official announcement, and a comprehensive plan for the equipment’s use.

The 283 m2 stage is located in the center of the hall. The stage consists of a fixed section (front stage) and 20 individually liftable stage elements. The maximum lifting height is individually adjustable from 0 to 1200mm

The pointload of the stage is 200kg. The stage load is 500kg per square meter with a static load and 200kg per square meter with a dynamic load.

The stage can be covered with a dance floor.

Risers of various sizes, trusses and chain hoists on request. All rigging must be agreed and set up by in-house staff.

All exit routes must be kept clear.

The venue is a 360-degree venue with seats surrounding the entire stage. The PA system is an L-acoustics system covering the entire venue.

Speakers:

• Main LR 1x L2 + 1x L2D per side
• Subs 4x flown KS28
• Side PA (270) 4x Kara II per side
• Rear PA 6x Kara II per side
• Balcony fills Total of 30x Kiva
• Frontfills Total of 21x 5XT, 2x SYVA
• Monitors 8x 12XT or 8X
  

System is driven with L-acoustics amps. PA matrix is done in house Digico Q338. Sample rate is 96khz.

Mixers and I/O

• FOH Digico Q338 with waves
• MON Digico SD8 with waves
• I/O 1 Optocore loop with 80 ch 32-bit digico preamps, 32ch Analog outs,
• 32 ch AES/EBU IO Dante, Madi, etc…
• 64 ch additional Horus preamps

Musiikkitalo has a wide selection of microphones (Shure, Schoeps, Sennheiser, AKG, Sandhill, Neumann, DPA, etc.) and DI boxes (Radial, Neve). The clients are advised to contact the Musiikkitalo’s producers in advance with specific requests.

Wireless: 18 ch Sennheiser SK-5000

If a client brings their own wireless devices, they are obligated to consult with Musiikkitalos technicians in advance regarding frequency coordination. In these cases, Musiikkitalo is responsible for calculating the frequencies.

For monitor console we prefer stage left on stage.

The main concert hall differs significantly from traditional concert halls because the audience and TV cameras are positioned 360 degrees around the stage. The concert hall’s lighting is adjustable according to the nature of the events.

Our lighting options include:

Lighting Specifications

CONTROL:

• 2x MALighting grandMA3 Light (FOH and Vision Control Room)
• 2x MALighting grandMA3 processing unit L
• About 30x MALighting grandMA3 DMX Nodes in various positions
• If you bring your own console, it can connect to our system using sACN or ArtNet.

2x Paradigm Architectural Processor for Relay Control, Rehearsal and House lighting. (Touchscreens in FOH, Stage Manager Position and Vision Control Room)

FIXTURES:
Moving Head:

• 57x High End – Solaframe Theatre Hi CRI with custom gobos (moving head spot)
• 16x ADB – Warp/M 12-30° (800W) /with Scroller (moving head spot)
• 18x Robe – Robin Spiider RGBA LED Wash (moving head washlight)

Conventional:

• 4x Robert Juliat Arthur LT Followspot (800W LED w/Telrad focus finder)
• 26x Niethammer HPZ 211X (2kW) Profile
• 2x Altman Enizoom HPZ 211X Profile (Coemar Relight kit 450W tunable white)
• 8x Selecon Pacific 5° (1kW) Profile
• 16x Selecon Arena Theatre Fresnel (Coemar Relight kit 450W tunable white LED)
• 4x Selecon Arena Theatre PC (Coemar Relight kit 450W tunable white LED)
• 20x Spotlight Hyperion 700W TW profile 8-25deg
• 2x Spotlight Hyperion 700W TW Profile 20-40deg
• 22x Spotlight Hyperion 700W TW PC w/barndoors
• 6x ETC Lustr 3 Profile 15-30deg (5 color LED)
• 5x ETC – CE Source 4 (750W) 5°
• 4x Wybron – 80V Beam Projector (1200W)
• 6x ETC – CE Source Par (750W)
• 59x ETC PARNell (750W) (houselights)

Most conventional lights are at fixed positions and at fixed focus for classical concerts. It is allowed to use those for any kind of productions but preferable (because of usually tight schedules) not to re-focus.
Also listed moving lights are at fixed positions.

In storage:
Plenty of specials which are also in use at other halls.

Other:

• 2x MDG – ATM Hazer
• 2x JEM DMX Fan
• 512x Dimmer/Relay Channels 3kW / ETC Sensor 3 Cabinets
• 194x Relay Channels 16A
  

Venue´s light plot changes all the time a bit so if you need a light plot and/or dmx patch list, please ask the technical producers for an updated version of the light plot and/or dmx patch list.

We use Capture and VectorWorks visualisation programs and we can send venue files for pre-programing if needed.

Musiikkitalo features a comprehensive suite of broadcast and recording studios, each designed with professional-grade acoustic treatment. The Concert Hall is equipped with a state-of-the-art recording system, designed to meet the needs of even the most demanding recording projects. The Concert Hall’s recording system is built to provide versatile capabilities for both live recordings and studio-quality recordings. The system is designed particularly for orchestral and acoustic music, but it’s also excellent for other music styles and spoken-word events. The Concert Hall uses modern digital recording technology, enabling high-quality multi-track recordings.

Musiikkitalo has multiple recording control rooms equipped with modern monitoring equipment. The system also enables live broadcasts to radio and television channels. Musiikkitalo hosts more than 1000 productions each year and delivers three weekly live television broadcasts for YLE, the National Broadcasting Company. The Concert Hall’s acoustics are designed specifically for recordings, ensuring excellent sound quality.

Multi-track recordings can be made of concerts from all the halls of the Helsinki Music Centre. The Music Centre has two sound control rooms with video and command connections to all halls.

Above the concert hall stage, microphones necessary for recording a full symphony orchestra hang ready (30 in total), and these can be supplemented with a comprehensive selection of floor-standing microphones. All of these are included in the studio rental price.The microphones hanging from the ceiling can also be raised out of sight.

Key Equipment
Microphones:
Musiikkitalo has a wide selection of top-of-the-line microphones, including Schoeps, DPA, Neumann, and Sandhill.

Recording Consoles:
Multiple Digico and Lawo digital mixing consoles are used, allowing for flexible signal processing and routing.

Preamplifiers:
High-quality preamplifiers (Merging Horus, DAD, Digico 32bit) ensure clean and interference-free signal processing.

Audio Networks:
Musiikkitalo has a versatile fiber network that enables the transmission of a wide range of audio channels between different spaces. Network protocols used include Riedel Mediornet, Ravenna, Optocore, Madi, Dante, Meraki, and Arista.

Recording Systems:
The system enables multi-track recordings to various recording media and formats.

Outboard Equipment:
The equipment of Musiikkitalo includes a large range of high quality outboard equipment, for example Bricasti, Lexicon, TC, Tubetech, Bettermaker, Millenia, devices.

TV-broadcast and recording

Cameras, control and playing:
Grass Valley C135, 135, C82 Premiere, LDX82 studio cameras, Panasonic AW-UE100KE robo cameras, Lenses Canon broadcast, Tripods Vinten, Cartoni, Sachtler, Grass Valley CGP500 + CCS-ONE grade, Shotoku, Softron OnTheAir Video Express

Switcher:
ROSS Carbonite Extreme 2ME

Other:
Panasonic AW-UE100KE, 4/ME Blackmagic, Constellation i/o, skaarjoh PTZ extreme

Intercom
Riedel 1000-series panels in studios
8 pcs Bolero wireless beltpack

The Concert Hall has three projection screens. The main screen is above the rear seating and two smaller screens are above the side seating.

Projection screens may create obstructed views for some seats. Please consult Musiikkitalo’s producers well in advance of the event regarding these obstructed view locations. Other projection locations are also possible; please contact the producers in advance to discuss options

Main Projector:
Barco UDM 4K30 (Housed in Vicom soundproof housing), 30,000 Lumens brightness, 4K resolution, Inputs: 12G SDI / HDMI

Side Projectors:
2x Barco HDX-W20 Flex (Housed in Vicom soundproof housing), 18,000 Lumens brightness, SXGA resolution (1920×1200), Inputs: SDI / DVI-I / HDMI

Projection Screens

Side Screens:
7 meters x 5 meters (16:9 aspect ratio)

Main Screen:

9.8 meters x 6 meters (16:9 aspect ratio)

9.8 meters x 8 meters (4:3 aspect ratio)

Extra:

Between FOH and Stage Left straight connection: 4x CAT6 + 3x Coax 75ohm
Between FOH and Stage Right connection: 4x CAT6 + 2x Coax 75ohm