Constructed in 1923-24 and designed by Montreal architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy, who specialised in theatre and hospital projects, the Rialto was inspired by the Neo-baroque-style of the Paris Opera House. The Rialto Theatre is one of the most iconic buildings in Montreal, and is a former movie palace which today is designated as a 'National Historic Site' of Canada.
Today the main floor supports 708 people in standing mode, 450 people in theatre row seating, 350 in cabaret style seating. The newly opened balcony holds an additional 450 seated people.
Recent technical upgrades include a new Adamson SpekTrix loudspeaker system powered with Lab.gruppen PLM with Dolby Lake processing. In order to preserve the architectural beauty and clean sightlines, the ground stacked PA system is made up of four Spektrix 5 degree boxes mounted atop a double 18" cardioid Sub left and right of the stage with a single T21 centre sub covering the floor level. The balconies feature a second SpekTrix system, this one is a flown SpekTrix sub with three SpekTrix 5 degree boxes underhang both at Left and Right of balcony.
A Midas Heritage 3000 console for FOH, and a M7- cl 48-channel console for monitors were also added with full Shure and Sennheiser microphone lines. On stage 10 Adamson M series M12 and M15 wedges powered by Powersoft offer flexible monitoring for the various styles of performers and events, such as live concerts, film, dance and theatrical performances taking the Rialto stage.
The system was designed by the co-technical directors, Drew Malamud and Laurent Magne, and supported by Adamson's exclusive Canadian distributors Theatrixx based in Montreal who also provided the system.
