Manchester venue joins leading European cultural institutions in leveraging digital twin technology to replicate and simulate its acoustics and structural characteristics, helping optimise live performance experiences. 

 

Hallé St Peter’s has become the first venue in the UK to create a digital replica of itself that can be used to test how orchestral music sounds inside the space, under long standing partnership with technology company Siemens.

The Manchester venue, which is the Hallé’s rehearsal and recording home, has been recreated as a digital twin: a detailed virtual model of a real-world place, built using data. The model allows conductors, composers, directors, architects and all kinds of content creators to explore how music travels through Hallé St Peter’s before a performance takes place.

Using building data, detailed architectural plans and a dry recording of a musical piece, the technology recreates the venue’s acoustic environment. It means the Hallé can test how different orchestral arrangements, seating locations and hypothetical changes to the venue could affect the sound experienced by performers and audiences across the room.

The project brings Hallé St Peter’s into a group of leading European cultural spaces already using the technology, including the Bayerische Nationaltheater in Munich and the Großes Festspielhaus at the Salzburg Festival.

Developed by Siemens Arts Program, Siemens Simcenter and the Hallé, the Sound of Science mixed-reality application enables users to experience the acoustics of a digital twin of Hallé St Peter’s. With the help of virtual reality headsets, users can explore how acoustics change as they move through the venue, adjust the orchestra position, or revert to the original church acoustics.

For the Hallé, the digital twin offers a new way to plan performances, refine arrangements and understand the relationship between musicians, architecture and audience experience

By enabling virtual testing of different stage and orchestra configurations before rehearsals begin, the solution helps shorten rehearsal times and reduce concert logistics costs.

“The benefits of digital twin technology extend well beyond industry, creating new opportunities to better understand complex environments and make informed decisions. Sound of Science demonstrates how these capabilities can be applied in a cultural setting, helping preserve and explore the unique character of Halle St Peter’s”, said Les Fletcher, Simulation Business Growth Specialist at Siemens.

Sound of Science was launched by Siemens in 2024. It applies the same digital twin technology Siemens uses across industry, where organisations can model products, buildings, factories and processes virtually before making changes in the real world.

 

For more information visit https://www.siemens.com/uk/en.html