He is usually the first one up in the morning. We accompanied him on his tour of the Tonhalle Zurich.
07:00 Thomas Heise has been sitting in front of his computer screen for half an hour. Above it hangs one of those home-made dream catchers that he also sells at markets: "Working with natural materials is a good balance to my job, where I mainly have to deal with machines, cables and fans."
07:15 He controls the ventilation from his computer, among other things. During concerts, it must not be set too high because of the noise; otherwise, it's a matter of achieving the most favourable balance of temperature and humidity possible in collaboration with the people in charge at the Kongresshaus-Stiftung (KSH), the landlord: "In summer, that's a real problem. In winter too, for the opposite reason."
07:34 Tour of the building. Anything dripping here? No, everything is fine.
07:38 Light test in the Grosse Tonhalle. A light bulb in a wall lamp needs to be replaced. Fortunately, all the bulbs in the chandelier are working, but replacing them is more complicated.
07:47 Opening windows in the orchestra office under the roof, "so that it's cool for my colleagues at least at the beginning". On particularly hot days, he also brings them a bottle of ice, which helps.
07:54 Inspection tour through the roof labyrinth between stage machinery, chandelier suspension and ventilation. You have to be narrow here, the passages are tight.
08:03 The ventilation above the Kleine Tonhalle is rattling, "it needs lubricant". The fan is ancient, by the way; it has survived the renovation undisturbed.
08:14 "Danger of falling" warns a sign above a hatch that is accessible via a steep staircase: "From here you have the best view in the whole building!"
08:31 In the Grose Tonhalle, the stage extension that was used for the large cast the previous evening is dismantled again. Four people from the external stage crew are there, it all goes pretty quickly, "although there's no really ideal choreography".
08:40 A brief chat with Eyüp Oezbadereli in the foyer. He is the Kongresshaus Foundation's in-house technician "and probably the person with the phone number I dial most often". The same applies vice versa.
08:54 In the hall, the rows of chairs are being screwed back into place where the stage extension stood until recently.
09:00 Almost finished. Then it's the turn of the light bulb. And then probably a phone call with KHS about the ventilation.
