By Full Compass LiveSummertime in Madison, WI doesn't get much better than late-July because of a few reasons:
- There's zero chance it'll snow.
- The weather is absolutely perfect.
- It's time for Opera in the Park.
For the past 15 years the Madison Opera has been putting on a two-hour show for free for the community. Opera in the Park is a free "opera concert" where 15,000 to 20,000 people bring their blankets, chairs, food, wine and good beer to take in the warm summer evening with the Madison Symphony and the brilliantly talented singers from the Madison Opera.
In order for the 20,000 people to hear the beautiful music, Full Compass Systems provides all of the audio gear - microphones, speakers, mixers and amps. This is the 14th year Full Compass has donated the gear and the 14th year our founder, Jonathan Lipp has donated his audio engineering skills for the event.
"I think that the arts come first in our lives," said Lipp. "Providing good equipment for the arts to be able to do the best job that they possibly can. Working with performers, wanting to help them do the best job that they can possibly do - enchanting the audiences is part of our life work."
Lipp said after 14 years of lending his engineering expertise to Opera in the Park, he gets pretty excited "because this is now my one professional gig I get to do every year and I'm working with some talented audio pros who are volunteering their time to make this a great experience for everyone."
Watch portions of the interview with Lipp and see some scenes from this year's event below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWA0_wNuBj8&w=560&h=315]