UK - Southwest London venue Under the Bridge has benefited from the installation of a new LED wall as well as lighting and audio upgrades at its premises.
“Since Under the Bridge launched in 2011, we’ve taken great pride being one of the UK’s most unique and technically-advanced, mid-sized, multi-purpose venues for hire,” says creative manager, Alan Tenenbaum. “With approximately 100 confirmed events scheduled to host for the remainder of 2019, we’re excited to share this production upgrade with our clients and audiences. The upgrade puts our intimate venue in a class of its own, beyond comparison.”
The 3.9mm pixel-pitch LED screen from Absen supports a video resolution higher than Full HD (1080p), making it ideal for presentations, image projections and video content.
The venue also has a new LED lighting rig, expanding the existing stock to offer more intelligent lighting, including LED spots and Fresnels. Under the Bridge has specified Claypaky’s new wash and beam fixtures, the B-EYE K25 and Mini B, as well as 14 of Ayrton's Mistral S spot luminaire. Dimming is via an Avolites 24 way dimmer (48 way patchable).
On the audio front, the AV team have improved facilities with a Shure Axient Digital wireless system and high-performance RF with better command and control for visiting sound engineers.

USA - Harman Professional Solutions celebrated the grand opening of The Reach at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
The opening of The Reach marks the first new construction at The Kennedy Centre since its opening in 1971, and is comprised of three contiguous pavilions creating 72,000sq.ft of interior space, 4.6 acres of green space and gardens, and a pedestrian bridge over Rock Creek Parkway that connects the Kennedy Centre to Washington, DC’s other memorials.
The centre describes The Reach as “a home for non-traditional programming with an emphasis on active participation and access. The open, informal spaces of the new expansion draw visitors directly into the creative process and inspire new connections and collaborations between creators of multiple genres and disciplines.”
“We are very proud of our decades-old relationship with The Kennedy Centre that has helped the world’s most celebrated artists deliver incredible performances through our audio products," says Dinesh Paliwal, president and CEO of Harman. "Congratulations to president Deborah Rutter, the board of trustees and the Kennedy Centre staff for reaching a new milestone in their pivotal role of showcasing the very best of the performing arts, across the nation and around the world."
As the official ‘sound of the Kennedy Centre’, Harman provided JBL Professional loudspeakers, Crown amplifiers, Soundcraft mixers, Martin lighting and AMX control system products to ensure patrons enjoy the highest quality multimedia experiences at Th

India - AM Integrated and Crescendo AV recently outfitted The Piano Man Jazz Club in Gurugram with a complete Harman Professional Solutions sound reinforcement system.
The Piano Man Jazz Club is a full-service restaurant, bar and music venue founded in 2015 by classically-trained pianist and entrepreneur Arjun Sagar Gupta. The first location in Delhi was so successful, Gupta decided to open a second location in the bustling city of Gurugram. In addition to being one of the few venues in India that showcases live jazz music, The Piano Man Jazz Club also features diverse acts from young singer-songwriters to international brass bands.
The venue hired AM Integrated and Crescendo AV to design and integrate end-to-end Harman Professional audio and lighting systems, including solutions by JBL, AKG, Soundcraft and Martin Professional.
“We wanted premium audio solutions that would provide unique experiences for our artists and guests,” explains Gupta. “We chose Harman for its wide range of loudspeakers, superior quality of end-to-end solutions and their extensive service support network. Getting a rich and warm sound can be a challenge, but Harman delivered a comprehensive live entertainment system without compromising any of our ideals.”
The Piano Man Jazz Club Gurugram is a wide, oval-shaped venue - a design that was chosen specifically to achieve a close and intimate seating arrangement around the stage. This design posed a unique set of acoustic challenges when it came to implementing a front-of-house speaker system.
The integrati

Finland - Established in 1872 in Helsinki, the Finnish National Theatre is the oldest Finnish-speaking professional theatre in the country. Its current venue was built in 1902 and the combination of Alcons Audio Q series and L series pro-ribbon loudspeakers means the 900-capacity main stage enjoys quality sound and coverage, without impacting on its historic decor.
The horseshoe-shaped auditorium has three balconies, providing a challenge to projecting seamless, high quality sound to every seat. This was solved when sound and lighting specialists Electro Waves installed an Alcons QR series pro-ribbon system several years ago. This comprised L-C-R arrays of QR36 modular line-source array columns with QM36 modular line-source LMF array extensions. QB363 modular low-frequency array columns were added to the centre cluster, all powered and controlled by Alcons Sentinel3 and Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
The system proved successful, but recently the theatre wanted to further extend the vocal coverage of its productions. To achieve this, two new centre clusters of seven LR7/120 wide dispersion, micro line array modules each were installed to complement the QB363s. The existing centre array QR36 loudspeakers were re-deployed to enhance the coverage of the front left and right of the second balconies. Both of the two LR7 arrays were powered by additional Sentinel3’s.
The main arrays are 6m tall, comprising 36 6,5" mid-bass and 12 pcs of 18" pro-ribbon drivers each.
"The system was performing very well, but more extended coverage wa

Australia - After its closure in 2017, Darlinghurst’s Midnight Shift club has been resurrected by Universal Hotels using Prolights fixtures.
Universal Hotels, a Sydney-based hospitality group owned and operated by the Kospetas family, picked up the 1000sq.m building last June for a reported $12m and have relaunched it as Universal, a rebranded music venue and LGBTIQA+ safe place.
“Universal is an evolution of the Midnight Shift, rather than a revolution,” explains owner Jim Kospetas, who plans to respect the special role that the venue has played for the LGBTIQA+ community and continue its long-held legacy of inclusivity.
Kospetas contacted Show Technology with a brief requiring “masses of beams and good sight lines throughout the venue”.
Tim Macfie of TDM Productions was chosen to design the lighting system. “They wanted someone who could meet the needs of all markets,” he explains. “As it’s a really tough time in Sydney for nightlife, we needed to look at ways to multifunction the space. Consequently, it was crucial to bring the lighting up to a world class level from a production point of view.”
Macfie was keen to create lines of symmetry in the room whilst keeping the three circular trusses that the Midnight Shift was known for. Hence the initial refurb saw the entire roof stripped out and a new mothergrid installed. The truss circles were relocated within the venue and a new stage truss established.
At either end of the room are four Prolights Starkbar1000 powerful and zoomable LED moving battens which can

Bahrain - Event design, technical and scenic production specialist Maestra Group has opened a base in Bahrain and announced a new partnership with the Ritz-Carlton resort and its 43,000sq.ft conference and exhibition facility.
As the resort’s exclusive event partner, Maestra will oversee all technical aspects of the new Arena facility, which offers a full set-up and capacity for large banquet receptions and global conferences.
Maestra’s Tom Clements comments: “We are extremely excited about this new venture and to be involved in such a high profile and incredibly well-designed event space. For Maestra Group, this is a logical expansion of our work in Dubai, and it will also be the first step in some strategic expansion plans for Maestra Group in the Middle East.”
“As Bahrain becomes a global destination for premiere conferences and events in the region, it’s our pleasure to partner with Maestra and unveil a new conference facility complemented with our signature Ritz-Carlton brand service we’re known for globally,” says Bernard de Villèle, general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain. “With modern interiors and high-tech capabilities, The Arena stands to be one of the sought-after venues in the region and a perfect addition to the resorts already existing portfolio.”
The new venue is designed to host all types and styles of gatherings and events, including conferences, trade shows, car launches, seminars, music concerts, exhibitions and more.
Maestra Bahrain will include a core project management and technical team

South Africa - Joburg Theatre’s longstanding technical crew, headed by Enos Ramoroko, have taken delivery of new equipment to complement their busy theatre situated on Braamfontein Hill.
DWR Distribution delivered 20 Vari-Lite VL2600 Spots and four Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots to be used in the Mandela Theatre, while the audio in the Lesedi Theatre has been upgraded to an L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and Focus (WiFo) system.
“The Vari-Lite VL 2600 Spots met our needs for an LED spot,” says Enos Ramoroko, head of technical at Joburg Theatre. “The full blade shutters will be very useful for theatre applications.”
The crew are planning to use the new fixtures on productions like Sarafina, and this year’s annual pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk.
“The Mandela Theatre’s followspots, which have probably stood the test of time for around 30 years, have been replaced by four Robert Juliat Cyranos,” says Kevin Stannett from DWR.
“We are very happy for Enos and his team, who have always been amazing to work with,” says Stannett. “I think Johan Tshiwo who handles all maintenance at the theatre, will be pleased to have fewer repairs on his hands.”
Formerly known as The Fringe, the Lesedi Theatre venue caters for 251 patrons and is used for smaller type shows such as comedy and children productions, plus music. “The Lesedi is a small and intimate theatre and the new audio system offers smooth and even coverage from the front to the back of the theatre,” says Chris Pugh from DWR who headed the install

USA - With five floors and four stages, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk and Rock ’n’ Roll Steakhouse is the largest and most advanced entertainment venue on Nashville’s always-crowded Broadway.
Thanks to a comprehensive audio installation from QSC, the sound from multiple live acts on different floors is audiophile-grade. “The entire venue holds about 2,000 guests, with up to 600 in the main room and mezzanine,” says lead sound engineer Josh Hastick. “During busy seasons, all four stages are going at once, and we host as many as 16 bands, each with a four-hour set, in a business day.” That kind of turnover requires equal measures of flexibility and predictability from a P.A. system, which Hastick says that “QSC delivers in spades”.
The stage in their main room is flanked by three KLA12 active line array cabinets per side, complemented by four KW181 active subwoofers. Monitor mixes feed eight K10.2 powered loudspeakers on the stage, with an additional KW181 for the drum riser.
Between the main floor and the surrounding mezzanine, 16 AC-6ST surface-mount satellite speakers are deployed on delays time-aligned with the mains; these are driven by multiple CXD4.3 power amplifiers. Still more K10.2 and K12.2 speakers are strategically placed as fills, along with an extra KW181 to deliver thumping bass to the balcony crowd.
The third and fourth floor levels at Kid Rock’s, as well as the expansive rooftop bar, are all autonomous clubs-within-the-club. Their three performance stages are identically configured with E112 main loudspeak

Costa Rica - Colegio Humboldt is an international school in San José, Costa Rica, that serves preschool through secondary students. The school was founded in 1912 by Germans and emphasises a German-based education, Humboldt is also known for its profusion of extra-curricular activities. The school recently built a new performing arts space to further its programme, Auditorio Humboldt, a multi-purpose auditorium outfitted with Elation Professional luminaires.
Auditorio Humboldt is a modern, 238-capacity space where students conduct recitals and perform all manner of dance, music, theatre and debate. It houses top-of-the-line AV equipment with specialised technical personnel to provide support.
Elation dealer and distributor for Costa Rica, Darko Lighting of San José, completed the lighting project. They supplied, designed and installed new stage and architectural lighting systems for the auditorium, along with a decorative stretched ceiling, working in cooperation with architectural company Rojas Arquitectos.
The auditorium’s new stage lighting system includes 16 Fuze PAR Z175 fixtures. For flexibility of positioning, the system also includes four moving heads, Fuze Wash Z350s, a single-source PAR automated yoke wash luminaire with 120W RGBW COB LEDs and 7° to 55° zoom.
Associate director of Darko Lighting, Gabriel Zalkindas Jarovisky, specified the lighting system for the auditorium. “Quality, performance and price were all determining factors in the choice to go with these products,” he stated. “The lighting system is also quit

USA - Professional AV systems integrator Sound Designs has completed the design of a new sound system for St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Hockessin, Delaware. With roots that can be traced back to the 1700s, the current church was built in the 1960s with transepts forming its T-shaped layout and wooden pews facing a centre sanctuary stage area. With a large congregation, the church holds two daily mass services and six weekend services.
A number of contractors were invited to bid for the project, with Sound Designs’ Community E Series solution being chosen as the preferred design. John Dezell from Sound Designs explains: “Some proposed hanging array loudspeakers, but this would have disrupted the visual aesthetics of the space and blocked views of the recently installed stained glass windows. With a high, beamed ceiling and reflective surfaces we needed a system that would provide excellent pattern control and aesthetically merge with the architecture.
“We consulted with Community’s technical applications team and decided that slim column line source loudspeakers provided the best solution. Demonstrations were arranged on-site and at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington. The sound quality and coverage of the E Series loudspeakers were outstanding and we were subsequently awarded the contract.”
The loudspeaker system is primarily used for live vocal reinforcement with periodic programme audio and, occasionally, instrument microphones are deployed. The main system consists of two column arrays, each comprising two ENT-FR high pe

The Netherlands - Philips Stadion, home to PSV in Eindhoven, is the first venue in the world to install ArenaMatch DeltaQ loudspeaker line arrays and ArenaMatch Utility loudspeakers from Bose Professional.
Audio, video and lighting sales and rental firm Bazelmans AV completed the installation of the Bose loudspeakers at the 35,000-capacity stadium in time for kick off of the team’s first game of the second half of the season early this year.
"The design of the sound system was made especially for Philips Stadion,” says Wiljan Bazelmans, commercial director for Bazelmans AV, which is headquartered in Veldhoven. The combination of the latest Bose Professional loudspeakers, power amplifiers and signal processors enables Philips Stadion to play high-quality music via loudspeaker arrays while at the same time delivering clearly audible voice announcements to every seat in the venue.
The new Bose Professional ArenaMatch line of loudspeakers is designed to deliver improved sound quality, consistency, vocal clarity and flexibility to outdoor venues such as sports stadiums, arenas, outdoor entertainment centres and elsewhere. Bose Professional announced the launch of ArenaMatch to coincide with the unveiling of the installation at Philips Stadion. The one-off collaboration with Bose Professional was made possible by an alliance between Heijmans, ABC Finance, Bazelmans AV and PSV.
Philips Stadion commercial director Frans Janssen remarks, "The design of the sound system was made especially for the Philips Stadion. The sound boxes and equipment are o

Russia - Recent years have seen the Russian Orthodox church expand its programme of church building. At Moscow’s Khodynka Field, worshippers at the new Church Of Saint Sergius of Radonezh were distracted by having problems hearing services, but Yamaha’s VXL Series slim line array speakers have solved the issue.
Khodynka Field, a few kilometres north-west of Moscow city centre, saw the first Russian flight in 1910 and quickly became the city’s first commercial airport. Finally closing to aviation in the early 2000s, since then the site has been redeveloped as housing, offices, sports venues and open spaces for Moscow’s expanding population.
Located at the end of one of the former airport runways, the Church Of Saint Sergius of Radonezh was opened in 2017 to honour one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most highly venerated saints, as well as the many airmen and women who had flown from Khodynka Field.
Russian Orthodox services are conducted entirely in melodic chants or singing, to create a sense of calmness and to express the true nature and purpose of the words. The church originally had no sound reinforcement system, but it quickly became obvious that churchgoers were clustering in the centre to hear services properly, distracting them from their worship.
The monks who run the church looked for a solution to spread the sound more evenly throughout the church and Roman Belyaev, of Moscow-based AV specialists iProjector, suggested four Yamaha VXL1W-16 slim line array speakers. Three PA2120 amplifiers were chosen to power the VXLs, with

UK - HK Audio’s Linear series of loudspeakers have been specified as part of the sound system at Nightrain, a new live music venue in Bradford.
Founded by Bradford trio Chris Dove, Andy Kettle and Keith Tempest, the club transformed the former Yates and Arena sports bar on Queensgate into a 400 capacity venue that plugs the gap between smaller venues and larger ones, such as St George’s Hall. Nightrain, named after a Guns N’ Roses song, is set to host a diverse selection of live acts every week-end and select weekdays, welcoming local as well as touring acts. The venue is also open throughout the day as a bar and games room.
Mike Smith and Brian Glover of Sound Alliance were commissioned to design and install an in-house sound and lighting system capable of satisfying the most demanding acts.
Having themselves relied on a variety of solutions from German manufacturer HK Audio for many years, Mike and Brian arranged for all three directors of Nightrain to accompany them to the demo theatre of JHS, HK Audio’s Leeds based UK distributor to explore options.
The facility to directly compare various system configurations at JHS proved invaluable and ultimately sealed the deal. Consequently the decision was reached to opt for a ground stacked active system flanking either side of the stage, using enclosures from HK Audio’s Linear series.
Each front of house stack comprises two Linear L SUB 4000A subs augmented by an L SUB 1800A sub, with an L5 112 FA taking care of mid/high duties, using L5TU1 tilt units to angle the tops for optimum

Hungary - The open-air theatre in Nyíregyháza recently upgraded their stage lighting capabilities with Prolights.
Located in the heart of the city of Nyíregyháza, the 1,000-seat theatre has been a key attraction in the area since 1955. Previously fitted with halogen fixtures, the renovation focussed on re-invigorating the space throughout and upgrading the technology to reduce running costs, increase energy efficiency and increase light output.
The new stage lighting system contains 20 Prolights Eclipse HD2 TU fixtures that were chosen for their brightness, even beam and clean shutter cuts, along with 20 Prolights full colour LED fixtures which provide a dramatically higher lumen level than their halogen predecessors. Both ellipsoidal fixtures were chosen for their versatility, broad functionality options and outstanding output levels and completed the reinvigoration of the space.
To complete the package, four Prolights Sunrise fixtures were installed; the theatre opted for the LED blinders as they could equal the brightness of traditional fixtures.
(Jim Evans)

UK - Audio Light Systems called upon the expertise of Doughty Engineering to help deliver a new media studio at Edinburgh University's Argyle House.
The University which has a fast-developing programme of Distance Learning at Scale, had an existing media studio but was struggling to fully support the programme of media production required. Audio Light Systems was brought on board to assist with the creation of a new TV studio and gallery on floor D of Argyle house as Neil McLucas, Audio Light Systems' senior technician explains:
"The TV studio already had a space prepared with new wiring and decoration. Our task was to develop the gallery, housed in an existing acoustic sound booth adjacent to the studio. The specification was for the supply and installation of sound, video, studio lighting curtain and tracks and so we got in touch with Doughty Engineering to supply us with the bits of kit that we needed."
Dan Phillips, project sales co-ordinator at Doughty comments: "It's always a pleasure working with Audio Light Systems - we've done many studio installations with them. For this project, we supplied track for the perimeter curtains and cyclorama, some facility panels, pantographs and a lighting rail system. Neil needed a selection of off-the-shelf kit from our range that would be functional and reliable. The majority was mounted on the ceiling, with the exception of the facility panels."
Thanks to a very detailed tender document, the installation was extremely efficient. However, timescales were tight and the lead time for the required f

Ireland - Croke Park Stadium in Dublin has completed its programme of design and installation of a permanent PA/VA sound system, supplied by French manufacturer Nexo.
This sporting venue is the national stadium of Ireland and home to the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). The 82,300 capacity stadium has been at the heart of Irish sporting life for over 100 years and is the third largest in Europe behind Camp Nou in Barcelona and Wembley in London.
Less well-known is the fact that Croke Park is also the widest, its 88m-wide pitch (nearly twice the size of a football pitch) is designed to accommodate the Gaelic sports of Gaelic football, hurling and camogie.
Mongey Communications, full-service AV and communications provider from Kildare, has been involved with Croke Park for nearly 15 years. This year, the Mongey team finished its extensive upgrade of the audio facilities in the stadium, working closely with technology consultancy Vanguardia.
Intimately involved in the planning of the upgrade, Mongey Communications has been instrumental in guiding the GAA, the managing body for the stadium, to a world-class audio set-up, which not only benefits its regular audience of sports fans but also elevates its provision for concert sound. Like many other large-format venues all over the world, Croke Park has to balance the commercial imperative of hosting music and entertainment shows alongside its sports brief.
The GAA’s criteria for the audio upgrade focussed on qualitative improvements to the stadium facilities for voice alarm and evacuatio

UK - The MJR Group has partnered with venues in Leeds and Southampton to develop and deliver their live events programmes and operations.
The Warehouse in Leeds will benefit from investment in its production infrastructure, with new staging, audio and lighting systems. The venue, which is marking its 40th anniversary this year, has been a regular venue on the touring circuit in the past, hosting the likes of U2, Oasis, Soft Cell, The Stone Roses and Pulp.
Over in Southampton, Switch, a 1,500-capacity former cinema theatre, has previously welcomed an international string of club and party bands and artists, hosting the likes of Stormzy, DJ EZ, Paul Woolford and Andy C. The MJR Group is planning to introduce live music events at the venue, which is already being refurbished, including new staging, lighting and screens throughout. An internal re-design will turn the club through 180°, adding a new VIP area, booths and a balcony.
Richard Buck, owner and founder of the MJR Group, comments: “We are delighted to add these three fantastic venues as part of the strategic expansion of our live music portfolio. The Warehouse will be a 600-capacity live music venue and attempt to fill the massive void left by The Cockpit’s closure a few years back. We are equally as excited about plans to introduce a live music programme to Switch, which will give bands a natural progression to grow audiences when they outgrow our other Southampton venue, The Engine Rooms.”
The Group is also set to reveal plans for a venue in central Birmingham.
(Jim Evans)

Egypt - The Al Masah Hotel and Spa in Cairo has installed 16 Claypaky Supersharpy moving heads provided by AV equipment retailer, Audio Technology. The fixtures were part of a new build phase at the luxury hotel, a favourite for hosting prestigious weddings and events in the capital.
The Supersharpys were installed in the lighting grid of the hotel’s Andalusite Hall, one of the largest ballrooms in Cairo. It seats up to 1,200 guests and features 15 balconies for private celebrity and VIP invitees.
“We know the outstanding performance of the Supersharpy with its powerful beam light and recommended it to the client,” says Emad Adly, Audio Technology’s president.
“The fixtures are used in many different set ups as required by the events staged in the ballroom,” adds Adly. “The Supersharpys offer diversity and flexibility for these events and have been performing just great. The client is very happy with them.”
(Jim Evans)

Australia - Tokyo Sing Song is located in the basement of the Marlborough Hotel in Newtown, Sydney and although the 200-capacity venue is compact, since it opened in 2014 it’s earned a reputation for its loud late-night parties and electric atmosphere.
In late 2018, Harold Dumke, Tokyo Sing Song’s marketing and entertainment coordinator, was made an offer he couldn’t refuse. In partnership with DJW Projects, Pioneer Pro Audio gave him the opportunity to install the brand’s first sound system in Australasia, replacing the club’s old PA. “I was completely blown away,” remembers Dumke. “I thought we were very lucky to be able to have a top-tier product from Pioneer Pro Audio that no one had seen or heard before in Australia.”
The musical offering at Tokyo Sing Song is so diverse - with DJs and live acts playing everything from hip-hop, disco, and soul, to house, jazz, and techno on different nights of the week so the club needed a versatile system.
Ryan Gay, product manager at Pioneer Electronics Australia, worked with DJW Projects’ managing director, Dave Coxon, to specify a setup of four XY-3B three-way bi-amp loudspeakers and two XY-218HS dual 18-inch horn-loaded subwoofers. The natural audio produced by these units allows the accurate reproduction of the myriad genres of music played at the club and their high output fills the basement space with the huge sound pressure the crowd was used to but with increased clarity.
“DJW Projects did a great job working with the venue and us to make sure the sound was designed perfect

UK - A Zero 88 lighting control solution - including FLX S48 lighting console and Bypass dimmer / switchpacks - has been supplied to St Andrew’s School in Woking, Surrey, UK, by rental, sales and installations specialist Henley Theatre Services (HTS).
The school, founded in 1937, is a respected co-educational prep school for around 300 children aged 3 to 13. As part of a commitment to deliver a stimulating and vibrant educational and developmental environment for its pupils, last year St Andrew’s invested in a new, 230-capacity purpose-built theatre - the Little Field Theatre - and rehearsal space in its 11-acre grounds.
The venue’s technical specification - including the Zero 88 elements - was delivered by consultants Theatre tech who designed the production lighting, sound and comms systems. A tender issued for the equipment supply was won by HTS who liaised closely with both the consultants and the client. HTS completed the installation and commissioning of the equipment on site.
HTS’s Reg Berry explained that the FLX S48 provided an ideal lighting control option due to its “clever but simple” approach to controlling a combination of different lightsources including LED and tungsten units.
In this case, the client also had several tungsten ‘legacy’ fixtures from their previous drama studio (Jnr School Hall) that needed to be integrated into the new theatre system, together with some new LED PARs, Selecon Acclaim fresnels and profiles.
The two Zero 88 Bypass dimmer / switchpacks provide dimmed and hot power for the l

USA - Vari-Lite and Strand, part of Signify, are meeting the demand for state-of-the-art technology at the new $88m Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston, Texas. The flagship education and arts facility benefits from over 600 lighting fixtures as well as control and networking technology from the two lighting equipment brands.
Designed by Gensler Architects, the HSPVA features an 800-seat main theatre, plus a Black Box theatre, a mini theatre, recital hall, dance studios and recording studio. In addition to its educational programme, it will also play a lead role in the cultural life of Houston’s thriving downtown arts district.
“This is not your typical high school space,” says Chris Purpura, who led the project on behalf of theatre consultancy WJHW Inc. “This is a state-of-the-art performing arts facility with many different rooms and spaces. From the get-go, they wanted systems that were in the forefront of technology.”
He adds: “The client wanted to treat the spaces as a blank canvas. Maybe, in the main theatre they use the whole space, or half the space, or maybe a performance takes place across two or more spaces simultaneously. We designed the network so that the spaces can be connected, or divided, as required.”
Working in close collaboration with the architects, building contractor McCarthy Construction and entertainment systems integration specialists from Wenger Corporation, WJHW specified an integrated stage lighting and control solution from Vari-Lite and Strand.
At the system

USA - Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Centre, home to the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Opera, upgraded its wireless intercoms with four Radio Active Designs (RAD) UV-1G base stations and 24 belt packs provided by Lift AV, also of Seattle.
“When we heard about the frequency restack we immediately worked on getting ahead of it,” explains John Coulter, AV technician for Seattle Centre. “We compared three or four different intercom systems but, in the end, the RAD units provided the frequency agility and signal latency our residents needed.”
McCaw Hall opened in 2003 after a $127m renovation of the Seattle Opera House. The Hall is owned by the City of Seattle and operated by Seattle Center. McCaw Hall is home to the 2,900-seat Susan Brotman Auditorium, the 380-seat Nesholm Family Lecture Hall, multiple lobbies and a public plaza that serves as entry into McCaw Hall and the Seattle Centre campus.
“The RAD intercoms are in almost constant use,” adds Coulter. “In addition to roughly 150 performances by the ballet and opera, the hall hosts music concerts, lectures, corporate meetings, festival performance and a variety of community and non-profit events. We typically check out up to 18 belt packs for each and keep one system free for whatever is coming and going. There are events squeezed in between ballet and opera performances regularly.”
The UV-1G base stations operate in a very small slice of the UHF spectrum 25 kHz) while the body packs operate solely in the VHF realm. This frees up considerable RF bandwidth for other

Canada - Based in Ottawa, and designed in the brutalist architectural style, Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC) has been serving the performing arts since 1969.
A bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for Canada’s most creative artists, the NAC strives to be artistically adventurous in each of its programming streams - the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre and NAC Presents. Offering a variety of free programming and events, The Centre collaborates with artists and arts organizations across the country, invests in ambitious new works and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada.
As part of a recent $110m overhaul, globally-renowned integrators, Engineering Harmonics, were hired to design a comprehensive audio/visual system that would service their needs for the next 15 years and beyond.
The project required upgrades to three of the performance spaces, replacing outdated equipment and infrastructure including some items from the original fit-out. These included Southam Hall, the Babs Asper Theatre and the Azrieli Studio and the upgrade included mixing consoles, speakers, amplifiers, DSP, intercom and a state-of-the-art digital fibre optic network provided by Optocore.
The NAC purchased a total of 54 Optocore units deployed across the three networks. Each venue was designed to have its own dedicated network, with a mix of permanently installed Optocore devices and mobile racks that could be moved freely between connection points in a venue or from one venue to another to

USA - Hollywood venue The Hotel Café has become a go-to place for intimate sets by singer-songwriters, both in its main room, opened in 2000, and the second room, opened in 2016.
The venue, whose two intimate spaces accommodate between 50 and 180 people, respectively, has hosted performances by such artists as John Mayer, Katy Perry, Adele, Sara Bareilles, Hozier, Ed Sheeran and Lucinda Williams. These rooms are capable of some very big sound, with sonic quality provided by systems from Bose Professional.
Hotel Café’s main room is equipped with a Bose Professional RoomMatch DeltaQ Array Loudspeaker system - one RoomMatch module on each side of the stage buttressed with a RoomMatch RMS218 dual-18 subwoofer (powered by one PowerMatch PM8500N networked amplifier for the RoomMatch speakers and an additional PM8500N for the subwoofer).
The club’s second room has been Bose-equipped since its opening in 2016, with a pair of self-powered F1 Model 812 Flexible Array loudspeakers attached to the wall on either side of the stage, with two 1,000-watt F1 Subwoofers on the floor underneath the F1 arrays. The main room, an already-established venue with a reputation for great sound, was kicked up a notch with the upgrade to RoomMatch - thereby making it an even stronger draw for artists and the industry pros they work with.
“We’ve had the RoomMatch sound system in here for the last six years, and when the second room was opened three years ago, the F1 system was the choice to install. Both of them have substantially elevated the sound here,” says