UK - A searing exploration of power, control, death and life, The Master Builder opens at The Old Vic theatre this evening. In this lively new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic play, the show stars Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes as master builder Halvard Solnessand and has been adapted by award-winning playwright David Hare. White Light is supplying the equipment on what promises to be an unforgettable production.

Following its opening performance, The Master Builder will run until 19 March 2016. It is being lit by Hugh Vanstone, who is working on the play for t

UK - The Theatres Trust reports that five small theatres in London will benefit from the first round of its new London Theatres Small Grants Scheme, made possible through a donation from the Mackintosh Foundation.

The five successful projects are:

Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) in Wandsworth is awarded £5,000 to replace their temporary wheelchair ramp leading to the café / bar and first floor performance space with a new permanent ramp. This improves access to BAC and contributes to the major Haworth Tompkins-led BAC capital redevelopment and restoration project.

Bush

Germany - After half a century, German hard rockers the Scorpions are still playing live all over the world and showing no signs of slowing down. Ticket demand for the 60 shows of the band's 50th Anniversary world tour in 2015 was so great that more than 30 extra dates have (so far) been added for 2016.

With Yamaha CL5 digital consoles available to rent wherever they go - even in the Faeroe Islands - the cost and logistics of touring are kept down and the band can continue taking their music to their fans - in even in the most remote territories!

Achim Schulze and Glen Schmeling -

Namibia - The first dot2 XL-F lighting console has recently entered Namibia, a new investment by leading full production solution and rental company, dB Audio Namibia, based in capital Windhoek.

The company is active in all areas of corporate and entertainment live event production - from boardroom meetings to stadium concerts - which is currently a buoyant and developing sector in Namibia.

dB Audio Namibia's David Benade explained that the decision to purchase the dot2 was made by a combination of people from company's management and lighting department, including himself and hea

Germany Rock band KARAT's recent acoustic tour featured an old school rock and roll floor package lighting design by LD Michael Kiefert programmed on the latest addition to the Philips Strand Lighting line of consoles, the 500ML.

The band - who formed in 1975 and celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2015 - played such cities as Cottbus, Magdeburg and Wismarin in venues of varying sizes. Kiefert therefore needed a versatile control solution and so turned to the compact and intuitive 500ML, supplied by Philips Entertainment German distributor Feiner Lichttechnik.

"When planning

USA - High End Systems and LightParts have announced an updated agreement between the companies for service and repair of High End's Legacy products. Since their inception over a decade ago, LightParts has served as the authorized service provider for the automated lighting manufacturer's early fixtures. Products such as Intellabeam, Emulator and Dataflash raised the bar for performance in the industry by continuing to operate decades after their introduction, in part due to LightParts continued service and support of these fixtures.

The new agreement has been expanded to include the

UK - Kevin Hart is one of the most in-demand comedians in Hollywood, having starred in countless films such as Think Like a Man and About Last Night, in addition to several TV and stand-up appearances. He has also been making considerable waves on the other side of the pond.

As part of his What Now? stand-up comedy tour, Hart recently headlined two sold-out shows at London's 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. Tour lighting designer Ken Delvo turned to Chauvet Professional's Rogue Series to provide stunning wash effects for the shows that were every bit as smooth, fast and multi-

Australia - Lexair Entertainment has announced that it has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Elation Professional for Australia and New Zealand.

Alex Mair, managing director of Lexair Entertainment, comments, "Elation is a very strong and exciting brand to add to Lexair's portfolio. Sitting alongside High End Systems, Green Hippo and TMB, the Elation product family fits within our vision to offer entertainment lighting customers in the region a much wider breadth of quality products, offering the 'one stop shop solution' our customers expect in the current ma

UK - For more than 25 years, the charity Children on the Edge has helped marginalised and forgotten children living on the edge of their societies. Working in partnership with local communities, they create safe, friendly environments to ensure that those who may possibly be ignored receive the childhood they deserve. The organisation is constantly looking to raise funds to support its work and recently held a fundraising evening as part of Chichester Festival Theatre's Winter Season. With its strong reputation in theatre, along with its frequent charity work, White Light was asked to p

UK - The family business of ASG Stage Products Ltd. has been sold; hence the current directors Stan, Marion and Paul McFerran will no longer be involved, effective from close of business on Friday 12 February 2016. The new owners will retain the ASG name, personnel and premises, so for suppliers and clients, most business will continue as normal.

Says a statement, "The company has been purchased by one of our primary suppliers and installation partners, Daniel Slade, managing director of Lighting Controlled, together with other investors. They will focus on the well-established

UK - Hastings-based LED lighting specialist CLD - part of the Penn Elcom Group - has supplied Osram Colormix Protect Flex IP67 rated LED tape, complete with drivers to a spectacular swimming pool lighting installation at a private residence in Northamptonshire.

This was specified by CLD's Nigel Howes and Razvan Vasiliu in close conjunction with Keith McCormack of KM Specialist Electrical Services from Banbury, Oxfordshire, who delivered all the electrical installation elements including lighting control design, specification and installation of the project.

The new pool area is de

UK - Cable specialists VDC Trading have recently supplied essential cabling assemblies to Paul Hatt at CS Audio for the 2016 Massive Attack Tour.

Paul explains, "I've worked with Massive Attack for the past few years mixing monitors, and also supplied equipment for their 2014 festival tour via my company, CS Audio. VDC Trading manufactured a new 64 channel splitter and line system for that tour, which I was very happy with.

"I was invited to work with the group again for the current European tour, for which again CS Audio are providing the monitor system & stage package.

UK/USA - After 25 years of working at Allen & Heath and being an integral part of their Xone DJ division, Andy Rigby-Jones left the company in 2014 and partnered with Richie Hawtin to combine their expertise and vision to create new innovative instruments for the DJ and electronic music market.

Over the past two years, the pair have been developing and testing their first prototype of an instrument that they feel is missing from the professional segment of the market. Assessed at various leading worldwide events including ENTER.Ibiza, Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Radio 1 Essentia

UK / UAE - London- and Dubai-based Maestra Group, specialist in premium event production, design and solutions, has made a large investment in new sound, AV and lighting equipment for 2016, which follows the launch of the new Maestra London office on 4 January.

This is to ensure the London office hit the ground running as business has, as anticipated been brisk in the first weeks of the year, and also to consolidate and boost the production resources available in Dubai.

SMaestra London has spent around half a million pounds on sound and AV technology which includes a range of d&bs

Norway - VUE Audiotechnik has confirmed the expansion of avon lydinstallasjon (AS) to exclusive distributor for the Nordic countries for all VUE Audiotechnik product lines.

Having established and maintained a strong presence for VUE in Norway for the past several years, avon's distribution of VUE products will now stretch to include Sweden; Denmark, including Greenland and the Faroe Islands; Iceland; and Finland, including the Åland Islands, directly and with the help of local vendors.

"Part of avon's expansion plan includes increasing VUE's presence in the rental market,&qu

Italy - The Classical Ballet Moscow recently completed an extensive tour of Italy and Sicily featuring an emotive lighting design programmed on a Philips Strand Lighting NEO Lighting Control Console.

The company performed The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty in cities including Florence, Milan and Palermo over 36 consecutive days.

Lighting designer and technical director Evgeniy Toma utilized the NEO's intuitive interface and timesaving features to provide him with quick and easy access to all of the fixtures in the rig, which ranged from 60 to 110 ov

Australia - Indoor 'hardstyle' festival Knockout Circuz returned to iconic Sydney venue The Hordern Pavilion at the end of last year, with lighting designer Arian Yeganeh creating a spectacular eight-hour light show using Clay Paky Mythos, Stormy and Sharpy fixtures.

Promoted by organisers Hard Styles United (HSU) as "one of the most spectacular and intense indoor rave arenas [we] have ever created" with "hours of lasers, spectacular lighting shows and crystal clear audio", Knockout Circuz saw a line-up of such international artists as Technoboy and Bioweapon.

Mexico - One of Mexico's major full technical production and rental companies, Audio Systems del Norte based in Monterrey, capital and largest city of the north eastern state of Nuevo León, has invested in its first Robe moving lights - 24 x Pointes.

Mexico is a rapidly expanding market for Robe, largely due to the efforts of distributor Vari Internacional, and the Pointe with its true multi-functionality is one of the most popular products right now.

Robe's reporting team rocked-up in Monterrey and interviewed Audio Systems' sales manager Franco Cinquini, who has been with the c

USA - Sound reinforcement systems from Bay Area audio innovator Meyer Sound played a supporting role in Super Bowl 50 festivities, the biggest Super Bowl week ever celebrated and one that the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee calls "uniquely Bay Area".

In their quest to make the game-day sound for this Super Bowl the best ever, NFL production leaders tapped Meyer Sound to help enhance the 7 February experience between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos. Meyer Sound's technical team worked with ATK Audiotek of Valencia, Calif. to rig SB-1 parabolic long-throw sound beam

USA - A winter storm couldn't stop the prestigious 24th Annual Trumpet Awards which celebrates and honours African American achievers and those who support the African American experience.

, and honours accomplishments in diverse fields including law, medicine, business, politics, the Arts, civil rights, sports, entrepreneurship, entertainment and other careers.

Hosted by actress Nia Long and actor Mike Epps, the honourees of this year's Trumpet Awards included EVP and COO of General Motors Alicia Boler-Davis, Former Secretary of Labour Alexis M. Herman, Chancellor of Wayne Commun

USA - As part of an ongoing project to upgrade its technical infrastructure, Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, has recently purchased an SSL L300 live console.

Founded in a small basement in 1970, Northside has gone from strength to strength, now serving over 5000 people each weekend. Ted W. Roberts, administrator at the church, provides oversight of technical infrastructure, drawing on his own extensive, high-end live sound and touring experience. Most recently, Roberts helped specify the new console: "It's very different when you work with only one or two key

World Beater - The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has awarded Adele its global artist of the year prize in recognition of her "simply phenomenal" success. Adele's achievement is particularly notable as her third album 25 was not released until late November. It went on to become the fastest selling album in British history. It sold more than 800,000 copies in its first week and with the album kept off streaming sites, its chart success was entirely made up of physical and download sales.

The second biggest selling artist of 2015 was Ed S

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