Qatar - W-DMX by Wireless Solution Sweden helped make the grand opening of the Katara Amphitheatre in Doha, Qatar a truly illuminated evening.

The venue, the largest amphitheatre in the Middle East, played centre stage for a special concert by the Oscar-winning Greek composer Vangelis. A&O Technology implemented a spectacular light show by the late esteemed lighting architect Gert Hof for the special concert.

A&O was responsible as general contractor for the lighting and pyrotechnics including the provision of electrical power, control and programming for the light show. Only 10 day

UK - West London UK based rental company, Entec Sound & Light supplied full technical production including lighting and sound equipment and crew for a recent high profile show at Wembley Arena by Taiwanese alt rock superstars, Mayday.

Their brief included the provision of the band's backline which was sourced from John Henry Enterprises, and specialist video which came via Bluman Associates. All necessary rigging was also supplied by Entec.

Entec's project manager Noreen O'Riordan worked closely with Mayday's LA-based production manager Jeffrey Soon to ensure that all their needs we

UK - White Light and Coemar have announced that, with immediate effect, all new Coemar products will be supplied in the UK with a two-year warranty at no additional charge.

The new warranty term covers all of Coemar's products, including the Infinity Mrange, which can take either discharge or tungsten lamps, and the Reflection range of spot and wash LED fixtures.

"Coemar makes a wide range of products, offering fantastic output as well as remarkable versatility," comments Peter Threadgold, White Light's sales director. "We hope that these new two-year warranties will

USA - New York City's famed Metropolitan Opera has purchased a complement of Clay Paky Alpha Profile 700 automated spotlights for its lighting inventory. A.C.T Lighting provided the fixtures to the specifications of Patrick Eagleton of Contemporary Lights.

The Metropolitan Opera has a reputation for carefully selecting gear to add to its equipment roster. Only the highest quality, most reliable products will meet its strict requirements.

"The Met liked a number of features of the Alpha Profile 700," reports Brian Dowd, vice president of sales at A.C.T Lighting. "Among

UAE - PALME's fourth Middle East Lighting Solutions Conference 2012 has been timed to coincide with the opening day of this year's three-day PALME Middle East expo (1-3 May).

Held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the full-day event opens at 11am with an address by George Katodrytis, RIBA, Associate Professor of Architecture, College of Architecture, Art and Design, American University of Sharjah.

It will then go on to discuss a series of topics including: New Technologies and Products in Lighting Design (with Ivar Krasinski, design director, STR-EDGE), followed by The Deve

Russia - Battle of the chariots, battles with predators and other scenes from the many myths of ancient Greece are performed by the Circus Zapashny brothers, a world-famous family of artists that successfully managed to integrate the Russian circus tradition with top level lighting, optical effects, laser and video equipment.

For their Legend, their latest spectacular production, Circus Zapashny - in cooperation with Imlight - they decided to add the XR3000 Spot CMY and XR3000 Beam moving heads as a major upgrade of their light rig.

Legend is staged in the Luzhniki sports are

West End News - The site of a former pickle factory is set to become the location of a new theatre in London's West End. The venue will be the first in the area for 30 years, after Westminster City Council approved the plans. The development above Tottenham Court Road station on Oxford Street will also include offices and shops. The venue is expected to open in 2020. The site was formerly used by Crosse & Blackwell to make Branston Pickle until they moved out in 1927.

The theatre will be operated by Nimax which already runs five others in London, including the Apollo and Lyric. Nimax

UK - PLASA will host its 2012 European AGM and Members' Lunch on Tuesday 29 May at BAFTA in Central London. Over 200 members and guests are expected to take part in the event, which includes the opportunity to feedback on the work that PLASA is doing, contribute to the future direction of the Association, and enjoy networking with fellow members.

Over the past year PLASA has embraced a completely different governance structure, expanded its portfolio of events in North America, and introduced a range of new services and benefits. Members at the AGM will also learn more about PLASA's p

UK Black Light's annual Open Day (30-31 March) event attracted hundreds of visitors from a wide range of different backgrounds, including professional theatre, the education sector and amateur dramatics. Over 30 leading light, sound, AV and stage technology companies exhibited and hundreds of items of cutting-edge equipment were on display.

"Our exhibitors really appreciated the opportunity to meet customers, talk to them in a relaxed environment and find out exactly what their needs were," said Phil Haldane, Black Light's head of company development. "All of the show v

Argentina - Robe has announced a new exclusive Argentinian distributor - Buenos Aires based The TSD Group. The company is run by Daniel Lema, and it has been a major player in the professional entertainment technology industry since 1994 as a leading supplier to all sectors including television, theatres and concert touring.

"We are delighted to have TSD onboard as part of the Robe family," says Robe's regional sales manager for Latin America, Guillermo Traverso. "We took our time to find the right company and people," he adds, "and the TSD Group's expertise a

USA - CAST Group of Toronto, Canada Wednesday was awarded an inaugural IABM Game-Changer Award for BlackTrax by the International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM). The Awards were held during NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) in Las Vegas. The new Awards recognise products deemed to have the greatest potential to revolutionise the industry. A panel of impartial experts from across the globe reviewed products and solutions during the first two days of the show and selected this year's five award-winners, which included such esteemed companies such as Sony and Dol

USA - Pro sports leagues and their fans demand spectacular halftime shows these days, and the 2012 NBA All-Star Game Halftime Show was no exception. Lighting designer Otis Howard got some assistance from 30 Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures, which lent their look to high-octane performances by Pitbull, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Nicki Minaj.

"When you go into a show like this you need to appeal to the NBA, the client and the artists," says Howard of Otis Howard Design in St. Petersberg, Florida. "They wanted a dynamic halftime show - something on a par with the NFL. There's always

USA - Iluminarc has announced the indoor/outdoor lighting solution Ilumiline Inground 12 IP WW, designed for wall grazing and suited for installation in commercial spaces, homes, lobbies, hospitals or in exterior settings such as building façades and entranceways.

This multipurpose LED linear wash light has 12 warm white 1-watt LEDs that project elegant and simple warm lighting. With an ingress protection of 67, Ilumiline Inground 12 IP WW features 316 marine-grade stainless steel hardware and a 316 steel trim ring to protect against corrosive environments..

Ilumiline Inground 12 I

UK - PR Lighting has launched its first compact moving head LED Spot and Beam fixtures. The LED Spot 400 comes equipped with a 16°-38° wide zoom, while the LED Beam emits an intense 6° beam. Both run extremely quietly, outputting less heat than other fixtures on the market, says the company.

Other features common to both fixtures include 50,000 hours LED life (6,800-7500K), seven dichroic colour filters (plus white); seven rotating gobos and seven fixed gobos (all easily interchangeable); DMX controllable focus; 5-100% linearly adjustable iris and macros; electronic strobe

Russia - The historic Theatre of Nations in Moscow, which has re-opened after a lengthy reconstruction, has been equipped by DOKA Center with a large ADB Lighting installation, including the first ADM Eurodim Twin Tech dimmer installation in Russia.

The Theatre of Nations was established in 1987 under the name of Theatre of Friendship of Nations and in 1991 was renamed the State Theatre of Nations.

Its intensive production activities include developing and producing a variety of theatre projects, organising international and national festivals, presenting the best Russian and intern

South Africa - MJ Event Gear provided the full technical including stage, sets, video, lighting and sound for a Transnet breakfast event held on 10 April 2012 at the Hilton Ballroom in Sandton. Transnet Group CEO, Brian Molefe, provided detail on a R300bn, seven-year investment programme aimed at transforming the country's ports and railways, and changing the state-owned ports and rail company's financial performance.

Much pre-planning and production management by MJ's Otto De Kock saw the team loading in Sunday morning, rehearsals on Monday and everyone set to go on Tuesday at 7am.

UK - Devon-based drapes, starcloth, LED and visual effects specialists S+H Technical Support provided a massive 238m wide by 9m drop of their ShowLED RGB Chameleon Starcloth, which was used on the high profile 2012 Olivier Awards.

The annual event was staged in the main auditorium of the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. S+H were contacted by Lee Batty, head of production for event organisers, the Society of London Theatre.

He was looking for a striking backdrop and a full leg and border dressing solution for the stage, and had previously used S+H's products, most recentl

USA - Clay Paky fixtures lit up the ice and turned on the glamour when production and lighting designer Christien Methot of Design One employed a complement of Sharpy and Alpha Spot HPE 1500s on Caesars Tribute II: A Salute to the Ladies of the Ice which aired on NBC on New Year's Day.

The figure skating extravaganza features a roster of American Olympic medalists, including Nancy Kerrigan, Tara Lipinksi and Sarah Hughes as well as an international contingent, among them current world champion Miki Ando. The event, held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, comes on the heels of

UK - When Russian artist Dashi Namdakov wanted an air of mystery for the unveiling of his celebrated statue, MTFX was on hand to provide the effect. The five metre statue was covered by a thick black shroud that held an enveloping fog cloud.

When the veil was removed, the fog gently dissipated to unveil Genghis Khan seated pensively on his horse. The figure celebrated 850 years since the legendary warrior was born, and the artist wanted to portray his spirituality as part of the London City of Sculpture festival.

The statue will remain in place at Marble Arch for six months a

USA - Almost 100 Chauvet Professional fixtures brought a multi-coloured ambience during the opening of Technicolor at Paramount's post-production sound facility at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Hollywood.

Stage façades came to life under the vivid colours of 58 Chauvet Professional COLORado 1-Tri Tour static wash lights and 40 COLORdash Batten Tri linear wash lights.

"Technicolor at Paramount wanted something very colourful and vibrant, and naturally, COLORdash Batten Tri and COLORado 1-Tri Tour lights were the perfect choice to complement the opening of the building, w

UAE - Wireless Solution Sweden is showing new products and some advancements to their product range during PALME Middle East, 1-3 May 2012 at Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Wireless Solution has been working on a completely new software platform since October 2011 that is prepared for future hardware functions as well as many new features and updated functions. The W-DMX G4S software platform includes improved adaptive frequency hopping; new Invisi-Wire MK2 with support for wireless software updates; improved Data-Safe MK2 that now supports up to 4 times redundanc

USA - City Theatrical will be launching new products and services for the architectural lighting world at LightFair International 2012 in Las Vegas on 9-11 May 2012.

Two new products join the SHoW DMX Neo wireless DMX product family and will be seen at LightFair for the first time. SHoW DMX Vero Net is an outdoor wireless DMX Transceiver in a NEMA 4 / IP66 rated enclosure that accepts all major entertainment Ethernet protocols including sACN, Art-Net, Kinet, and Pathport. SHoW DMX Vero is a smaller version of the product that accepts DMX input only.

Wireless DMX is often used in out

UK - HSL supplied equipment and crew to the latest Enter Shikari UK tour, working with lighting designer Steve Bewley.

The A Flash Flood of Colour tour started in Europe where it played slightly smaller venues, so the lighting rig was designed to be flexible enough to expand and contract to cover these, plus both an A and a B configuration for the UK, again based on the size of venue, the largest of which was Hammersmith Apollo. Mike Oates project managed for HSL.

The European leg featured a floor package from HSL, all based around five LED edged triangles. The fixtures chose

Estonia - An impressive rig of 70 Robe moving lights designed by Rene Jõhve and Meelis Lusmägi of Cuu Club provided a stunning visual setting for the final round of Eesti Laul, Estonia's 2012 Eurovision national qualifying competition.

The event was staged in the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn. Presented by high profile comedians Tiit Sukk and Taavi Teplenkov, it was broadcast live nationwide on the Estonian public broadcasting channel ETV1 and also enjoyed by a live audience of 1800 who saw the 20 finalists battle it out.

It was Jõhve and Meelis's first time designing ligh

Latest Issue. . .