Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Installation

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UK - Bristol's flagship venue Colston Hall has completed a £20m redevelopment project which "fuses stunning contemporary architecture with the historical splendour of the 145 year old building". This has created a range of new meeting and conference spaces, putting the South West of England on the map of international event organisers.

The most notable external change is the glass-fronted foyer building, finished with a striking recycled copper cladding, designed by architects Levitt Bernstein Associates. On arrival into the building, guests are greeted by a spacious atrium crossed at upper floor levels by a series of bridges, seamlessly linking the new foyer with the existing main auditorium and other parts of the historic hall building.

The new spaces available for dry hire or day delegate event packages includes Bar level 3 and the adjoining terrace. This is

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Ireland - On the far west coast of Ireland, an event and concert venue has been newly created, with a remarkable backstory. Not a surprise, perhaps, in this fabled land of poetry, folk song and traditional music, in which its soil is steeped; but this is a venture that, given the financial background of the country, has taken considerable energy to create one of the largest multipurpose venues in western Ireland.

The core impetus for this was the annual series of Sligo Live festivals, inaugurated eight years ago as a public-private initiative to promote the city of Sligo as both a musical centre and a tourist destination. The musical theme of the festival is based around folk, roots and indie, and is hosted by multiple pubs, bars and theatres in the city, the region's most populous area, a major tourist destination and former home to poet W B Yeats and Spike Milligan. The city i

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South Africa - The Johannesburg Theatre took delivery of its 20 new Robe MMX Spot fixtures from Robe's South African distributor DWR just in time for them to go into action on the annual pantomime, which this year is Jack & the Beanstalk, by special arrangement between the Theatre and Qdos, the world's largest panto producer.

The MMXs were specified by the Theatre's technical manager Enos Ramoroko together with production manager Simon James and senior lighting technician Patrick Mbatha, all of whom were "Hugely impressed" by what the lights had to offer.

The Theatre already owned 18 Robe ColorWash 700E ATs which have been a big success with all the various productions. The units have worked reliably and needed very little attention, so it was a logical decision to choose Robe again when it came to adding moving spot fixtures to the lighting inventory.

(Jim

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Taiwan - Originally used as a town hall, Zhongshan Hall in Taipei City, Taiwan has continued to host a series of important functions since it was built in 1928. From serving as a venue to presidents such as Richard Nixon of the United States, and Syngman Rhee of South Korea, to the signing of the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty and other governmental ceremonies, Zhongshan Hall has earned its designation as a Class Two National Historical Site. Today, the hall is used as a traditional art and culture centre.

First renovated in 2001, the main hall, Zhongzheng Auditorium, seats over 1,000 people and these days it serves mostly as a venue for cultural performances. In 2012, the building decided to upgrade its sound system, using d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers. With help from system integrator WeiShin Co., Ltd, co-designers Alex Poon (d&b China) and audio consultant Mr. Liu of Top

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USA - Acoustic Technology Group has announced a strategic alliance with Knitting Factory Entertainment to upgrade all existing sound systems in their venues as well as installation in future Knitting Factory venues worldwide. The alliance was forged after extensive listening tests at a recent ATG demonstration of their LS1000 system in Los Angeles.

The alliance will provide continuity of equipment and sound quality throughout the chain. The first venue to upgrade to an LS1000 system is in Boise, Idaho followed by The Federal in Los Angeles. These venues will be replacing EAW and Meyer systems respectively.

"The alliance with The Knitting Factory venues is much appreciated recognition of the superiority of our LS1000 system and the technology we have developed over that of the competition." said Wilfred Norton from ATG.

(Jim Evans)

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Nepal - Investment in Alcons Audio systems is being made by cinema owners in an ever-increasing number of countries across the globe. The company has recently broken yet more new territory with the installation of systems in Nepal.

Located in the Sundhara district of the capital Kathmandu is QFX Civil Mall, the country's largest shopping area, covering a total of 25,000sq.ft.This houses a new three-screen multiplex cinema, the QFX Cinemas, which are capable of seating up to 939 viewers at any one time. This is Nepal's first truly world-class Cineplex and is one of a trio of cinemas owned by QFX in the city.

QFX is the brand name of Quest Entertainment (QE), which was launched in Nepal a decade ago with the QFX Jai Nepal Cinema. The company is also involved in film distribution and production and as such has a thorough understanding of how important high quality sound is to mod

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UK - Production Resource Group is continuing its relationship with producer Michael Rose Limited. MRL's general Manager, Dave McNeilly contacted PRG back in the summer of 2011 with regards to PRG providing them with a temporary flying system for the production of Aladdin at a purpose built theatre at the London Piazza in the O2 Arena. PRG supplied a custom Flying System, rigging and lighting for the production.

The theatre structure consists of a ground support tower supplied by Star Events and positioned over the stage with an arena tented structure forming the auditorium and connected to the ground support.

PRG designed and installed a 44 x bar Flying System into a Star Events ground support structure, this was managed by PRG's senior account manager, Jay Call. It was 20m high and designed to mimic a theatre fly tower. The system is almost entirely automated using bot

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Greece - Turbosound loudspeakers are a key part of the ambience in Athens's luxury Catwalk Café-Bar. The bar, situated near the seafront in Greece's capital, invited local suppliers Metro Audio Systems to install ten Impact65T two-way loudspeakers and two TSB-110 sub-bass speakers.

"Catwalk Café-Bar features a warm, inviting, but timelessly classy atmosphere," comments Pavlos Symperas from Metro Audio Systems. "The bar is open day and night so the flexibility of the Turbosound speakers are an important part of this changing feel. They help to set the tone with their clear, high quality sound reproduction."

The biggest challenge for Metro Audio Systems was to deliver powerful quality sound, yet ensure that the system had an elegant and distinctive design. "We believed that the Impact series was the best fit for the project," continues

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USA - Encompass Technologies has completed a major sound and video installation for the sizeable new restaurant/sports bar/nightclub, John Barleycorn River North in downtown Chicago.

The fast-growing integrator had worked on a host of other venues for owners Sam Sanchez and Michael Gonzalez. As Tim Pickett, principal for Encompass, explains, "There are four John Barleycorns and we've been involved with all of them, two from the ground up and two complete rehabs. Sam and Michael also own two Moe's Cantina clubs that we worked on.

"For John Barleycorn River North, they definitely raised the bar several notches with a substantial budget of $285,000," adds Pickett. "Unlike the club in Schaumburg where there was a focus on live sound, John Barleycorn North functions as a sports bar and restaurant during the day and becomes a nightclub with a DJ upstairs that can

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The Netherlands - SGM has kept up its domination of major European dance spectaculars this year by putting on an awesome display at the GelreDome football stadium in Arnhem.

Promoted by Dutch entertainment specialists, Q-dance, Qlimax is considered to be one of the leading hardstyle events in the calendar and contains some of the most sophisticated production values of any one-off spectacular.

Lighting/production designers Jonas Smith, Tamil van Draanen and Marcel Binnenmarsch chose a total of 24 SGM Six Pack (SP-6) blinders, operating from the VIP decks, 28 powerful SGM P-5 washlights and 25 x X-5 white strobes flooding the stage for a crowd of more than 30,000 who attended Qlimax last month.

The promoters remarked on how impressed they were with all the SGM effects, but singled out the P-5 as being the best product they had used in any Qlimax show - according

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USA - The progressive Bloomington Centre for the Performing Arts (BCPA) in Illinois recently carried out a technical upgrade that has seen a number of GLP's impression Spot One and Volkslicht Zoom LED fixtures replacing traditional tungsten heads.

These were supplied by GLP dealer, JR Lighting Design, Inc. following an experiment by the venue's technical manager Rodney Stickrod to see whether the new generation of LED lighting was technically capable of providing a full theatrical alternative.

BCPA had wanted to make the upgrade in its newly renovated 1,200 seat main performance auditorium. Having seen the GLP fixtures at LDI in Orlando, he was introduced to Jason Reberski, President of JR Lighting Design Inc., who set up a demo.

The traditional tungsten wash system, used primarily in saturated colors, consumed thousands of watts of electricity. "Aside from energy savin

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Belgium - Audio XL, Nexo's distributor in Belgium, has supplied PS15 and PS10 systems for a high-functioning multimedia environment in The Villa, a new club and restaurant that has opened in Antwerp. The equipment was specified and installed by local systems integrator ASB, the first time the company has worked with Nexo products.

"The client chose Nexo based on listening tests, and we supported his choice because we knew that we would get great service from Pascal Deneef, installation manager at Audio XL," says ASB's Mathias Jansegers.

The venue owners, working on their second project, required a high degree of system integration, with sound, lights, screens and LEDs all under BSS control. Audio is highly programmed, even down to a basic setting for when the cleaning crew are in. "The most important thing was to give my customer something that all of his staff

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UK - Richmond Theatre in south-west London has upgraded its dimmers to Sensor3, as part of a major electrical upgrade, including the newest ETC ThruPower power control modules.

The theatre had already received a new Eos control desk and RPU (Remote Processor Unit) through ETC dealer White Light; the latest upgrade, installed by Bradbrook Electrical, saw the old dimming units - which were installed in 1996 - taken out and exchanged for the latest power control from ETC.

"We've been so impressed by the new dimming," explains chief electrician Pete Coxall. "We used to have very poor dimming curves, with lights snapping on and off, but the new dimming system provides much smoother fades. We follow the old playhouse production format, with our own rig and lighting control desks, and incoming companies load their show onto the desk. They used to have to make extensive

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies (AC-ET) Ltd. recently supplied a full audio system solution upgrade - including Traction Sound loudspeakers and an Allen & Heath mixing console - to the prestigious Roedean School in Brighton, UK.

Founded in 1898, Roedean is regarded as one of the UK's leading girls' schools, catering for day, weekly boarding and full boarding pupils between the ages of 11 and 18.

Ben Losh, Roedean Theatre's technical manager first approached AC-ET's Glen Thompson shortly after visiting their stand at PLASA. Impressed with their access to a wide selection of leading audio brands, Ben came to Glen looking for a new, discreet audio system that would provide even coverage, sufficient low end and vocal clarity for their performance theatre.

After hearing Ben's system requirements, Glen recommended Brighton-based loudspeaker manufacturer, Traction Sound for th

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UK - Located in central Leeds, the West Yorkshire Playhouse provides top-class theatrical performance facilities for audiences throughout the region and beyond. It is a producing theatre which creates its own shows for both in-house production and national touring, whilst also collaborating frequently with other major regional theatres. Numerous shows have transferred to the West End from Leeds, the most recent being Loserville which premiered at London's Garrick Theatre in October 2012.

The Playhouse also provides one of the country's most comprehensive arts education programmes, working with schools and young people in addition to offering a range of initiatives for adults and community groups. It is also a significant local employer with in excess of 200 staff representing every working discipline necessary to operate a contemporary theatre.

The West Yorkshire Playho

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USA - California's San Mateo Union High Schools District is currently in the process of remodelling - and, in some instances, totally replacing - the theatres of six of its high schools: Aragon, Burlingame, Capuchino, Hillsdale, Mills, and the flagship San Mateo location. Theatre consulting for each of the venues was provided by San Francisco's Shalleck Collaborative, which specified L-Acoustics loudspeaker systems throughout.

Two of the projects - the new 614-capacity Aragon venue and refurbished 90-year-old Burlingame space with 593 seats and reopened balcony - have already now been completed. Both rooms feature left and right arrays comprised of six Kiva elements flown beneath a single SB18 and driven by LA4 amplified controllers.

The remaining four theatres are all scheduled for completion prior to the start of the 2013-14 school year. Two of the schools boast nearly 800 s

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Canada - 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

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South America - Armenian symphony orchestra and choir Kohar has enjoyed remarkable success since it was formed 15 years ago. Performing across the world, the ensemble recently returned from a series of shows in South America, at which three Yamaha CL5 digital consoles starred.

With over 140 musicians, a choir, 12 solo singers and a dance troupe of 11 to accommodate, the shows required a flexible audio system with a large channel capacity and reliable connectivity, but which was easy to implement. Hamburg-based Pinguin Ing.Büro for Audio Production asked Arthur Koll from Yamaha Music Europe GmbH to act as the tour's live and broadcast audio consultant, supervising the system design and deployment for the elaborate show.

The system comprised one CL5 at the monitor position and two more at front of house - one doing submixes which were fed via Dante to the other two consoles. Th

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USA - Improving safety conditions for technical staff members has always been a primary goal at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. When timing and budgets came together after the annual production of A Christmas Carol opened in November 2012, they called Sapsis Rigging, Inc.

Sapsis installed fall arrest equipment in both performance spaces at the Goodman - the 856-seat Albert Ivar Goodman Theatre's proscenium stage, and the flexible thrust-style stage in the (maximum) 450-seat Owen Bruner Goodman Theatre.

Daniel Porter, one of the ETCP-certified rigging professionals on the Sapsis staff, supervised the entire installation. He and his crew placed eight ProPlus horizontal lifelines on the Albert's catwalk, balcony rail, and loading bridge, as well as 36 ProPlus self-retracting lifelines (SRLs). These SRLs feature a dual inertia braking system, which stops a fall with minimal

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USA - The New York City Performing Arts Centre recently benefitted from a major renovation programme which has transformed the iconic venue into a premium destination for world-class drama and music performances. The full system audio upgrade was designed by NYCC's Augie J Propersi in association with Scott Lehrer, with acoustic consultancy from Kierkegaard Associates.

Following on-site demos by TiMax distributor Duncan Crundwell of 1602Group LLC, TiMax2 Soundhub was specified as the overall system processor to provide routing, EQ and zone management plus the ground-breaking audio localization capabilities of its automated dynamic delay-matrix.

Propersi explains, "We wanted the TiMax Soundhub to matrix the main house sound system and manage speaker alignment and sound imaging within the performance space - so for all the system timings as well as room tuning. The EQ secti

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Russia - St. Petersburg-based integrator Ascreen, dnp denmark's premium dealer in Russia (and dnp Partner of the Year 2012), has designed and implemented a major AV system upgrade at the St Petersburg Court House, using the Danish company's solutions.

The building's main conference hall seats 350 people, and ensuring that they all get a good view was the installers' key concern. The solution they chose was a Supernova Infinity screen measuring 5500mm x 3094mm, made of the standard 08-85 material to achieve the highest image possible, and driven by two Panasonic PT-DW100 10000 ANSI lumen projectors working in 'dot-by-dot' mode.

"We chose the screen size and material to give everyone a bright, clear image, and deliver the high contrast you need for viewing material on video," explains Ascreen brand manager, Oleg Gukov.

In two areas of the courthouse strong ambient li

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UK - Theatre design consultancy Charcoalblue is supporting the Theatrical Management Association's industry leading Touring Symposium by announcing lead sponsorship for the next three years.

Charcoalblue will kick off sponsorship this spring as the TMA's Touring Symposium takes place at the Congress Centre in central London on Wednesday 6 March.

The TMA's premier annual event has established itself as the key forum for debate on the development of the UK touring industry. It provides a unique opportunity for venue managers, producers and directors to discuss and determine the environment and practical operation of their sector. Last year's Symposium attracted a record breaking 238 delegates from all over the UK.

"The TMA is delighted to have secured a three-year partnership with Charcoalblue," says David Brownlee, general manager of the Theatrical Management Associ

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Denmark - Just because a venue is located in a small town and prides itself on its community links and support for local artists doesn't mean that it is content with being simply average. The Godset Rock Club in Kolding, Denmark is an excellent case in point. Managing director, Christian Haugk clarifies for the uninitiated, "Although we are not a large community, the local government has been consistently supportive in our efforts to create a set of rehearsal rooms and a live venue that has quality written all over it.

"The Godset is run by an amalgam of volunteers and music organisations and provides a wonderful platform for developing grass roots talent, but our commitment to professional quality means that we have a national profile that attracts acts of international stature. Our success provides a feel good factor that politicians recognise as something of a vote

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India - A Milos MR5 roof system was recently used for a high profile open-air concert by Oscar award winning Indian megastar A R Rahman, staged at the YMCA Grounds in Chennai, India. Organised by popular Tamil broadcaster Jaya TV, the event was attended by 30,000 enthusiastic fans.

The multi-deck layered stage was designed by leading Bollywood set designer Varsha Jain, and this, the Milos roof system, all trussing, rigging and assorted scaffolding and structures utilised on site were supplied by Chennai based 'Men At Work Stagecraft Management Pvt Ltd'. The project was managed for them by Mankaran Singh.

The Milos roof system measured 24m wide by 18m deep with 13m of headroom. Various trusses were sub hung from its mother-grid, including six straight ones of different lengths and four circular - one at 8m, one at 4m and two 6m diameters.

(Jim Evans)

  1. Sarner adds another award
  2. QMUL transformed by Stage Electrics
  3. Full houses in SA State Theatre
  4. The reborn Hotel Victoria installs QSC systems
  5. ETC Source Four for Canberra theatre
  6. Outline Butterfly for leading Washington theatre
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