The tour visits over 100 venues a year
UK - Violinist and conductor André Rieu is known for his popular tours, visiting over 100 venues a year with his Johann Strauss orchestra. The tour is an opportunity to impress both live audiences and millions of viewers watching in cinemas and on DVD. This means that the lighting needs to be suitable for cameras recording the show for broadcast, DVD and the cinema, as well as the audience attending the performance.
It is important for the André Rieu Tour lighting be as compact, portable and low weight as possible to enable quick transitions between shows, supporting the tech crew as much as possible. The large number of performers in the orchestra need to be lit with a uniform field and dynamic effects to highlight different aspects of the performance, creating a great atmosphere for the audience.
To meet these goals, Maurice Verbeek, lighting designer at André Rieu productions, used lights including MAC Encore Performance CLD and MAC Aura, supplied by Netherlands-based Fairlight. The set is entirely made up of intelligent lights and all moving lights are LED.
Martin MAC Encore CLDs are deployed as the orchestra’s key lights, offering a best-in-class size/weight/performance ratio. They are attached to pre-fabricated parts of the set, facilitating quick transitions between performances.
For the orchestra’s backlight, Verbeek created five chandeliers, each incorporating 16 MAC Auras. The chandeliers are on wheels and thanks to the Aura’s compact, low weight design, can travel as one piece in the tour truck, helping to ensure fast transitions between venues.
MAC Aura XBs are used as side lights, hanging at both high and low levels at the side of the stage, providing 6000 Lumens output and rapid movement. For the tour’s outdoor events, such as Rieu’s annual Maastricht summer concerts, MAC Quantum Wash provide an impressive balance between colours and whites.
“The tour is getting better and better every year,” Verbeek says. “I personally think that we have the perfect tour set. I have the perfect products and the quickest, most silent and most flexible tour set. I’m really happy with it.”
(Jim Evans)

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