Goldscheider vs Royal Opera House: Implications for the music industry  Seminar

Speaker information

Professor Rob Harris,After obtaining a BSc in Physics from Warwick University, Rob was a stage lighting designer, a fringe theatre technical director and a sound engineer in the West End of London and Canada, mixing major musicals such as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. He obtained a MSc at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton University. He then worked in acoustics, mainly in the onshore and offshore oil industries. Rob returned to design for the performing arts by joining Arup. He left Arup after 33 years as an Arup Fellow and a Director of acoustics, theatre design and the Arts & Culture business. In 2015 Rob formed Rob Harris Design Limited, providing his services as a leading international auditorium acoustic designer and theatre consultant. Rob’s auditorium acoustic design credits include Bridgewater Hall Manchester, City Recital Hall Sydney, Glyndebourne Opera House, Bruges Concertgebouw, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff, the Royal Opera House London, Copenhagen Opera House, Oslo Opera House, Kings Place recital hall London, the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre Dublin, Kristiansand Performing Arts Centre and the orchestral rehearsal / performance hall at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. He worked on the feasibility study for the new Centre for Music (concert hall) in London. He has designed many sound and electroacoustic systems, including sound reinforcement, public address, voice alarm, sound masking and audible alarms. His current projects include the Royal Opera House London, an opera house in the Middle East, a large performing arts centre in Beijing and the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. Rob is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics (he was awarded the inaugural IOA Engineering Medal in 2004) and a Member of the Institute of Theatre Consultants. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2016 Rob was appointed as a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Auditorium and Building Acoustics at the Institute of Sound & Vibration Research, University of Southampton. He lectures to students in acoustics, architecture and music, at Southampton and elsewhere.