South Korea - Robe moving lights have been installed in the E&M TV studio in Seoul, Korea. Owned and operated by CJ Entertainment & Media, the studio is dedicated to producing music shows - both pre-recorded, live and often with live audiences - for the MNet broadcasting network's 24-hour music channel,

The Robe fixtures (30 x Robin MMX Spots, 24 x Robin 100 LEDBeams and eight ColorBeam 2500E ATs) were specified by Mr JaeWoo Choi, owner of rental company RGB, and supplied via Robe's Korean distributor, ArtTech Lighting Co.

RGB services all the lighting needs of the E&M Studio and the MNet music channel, and when the time came for new moving lights in the studio, Robe was an obvious choice. RGB has been using the brand for 10 years - ever since it was launched - and knows first-hand the reliability and creative potential of the products.

JaeWoo Choi comments: "After 10 y

UK - On Sunday 3 June, over 1,000 vessels participated in a flotilla on the Thames from Battersea to Tower Bridge in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. And while it may have been an awful day for the weather, live acts were the order of the day at Battersea Park, with everything from 1950s swing orchestras on the bandstand, to a host of exciting acts on the main stage.

On hand was Illuminate Design, who set up and managed the lighting for all five stages, with an anticipated audience of up to 90,000 - as well as a number of different craft areas with a small but functional lighting arrangement.

Project manager Robin Shephard-Blandy reports, "We have worked on the Mayor's Thames Festival many times before, so knew the organisers of the Diamond Jubilee Pageant already. They asked us to help with a number of different stages, with a finishing time of 7pm - which meant ev

UK - The Royal Albert Hall, London's landmark venue, has recently purchased Coemar ParLite LED fixtures as part of a major re-vamp of its auditorium lighting.

Entertainment lighting specialist White Light, Coemar's exclusive distributor in the UK, supplied the hall with 54 ParLites, which have now been installed to uplight the columns that encircle the iconic auditorium at gallery level.

The Royal Albert Hall's team, led by senior technical manager Ollie Jeffery, chose theParLites after carrying out an extensive set of auditions encompassing a wide range of lighting fixtures. They ultimately opted for the ParLites because of their colour consistency, silent fan-free operation, and energy saving compared to traditional tungsten lighting fixtures. The ParLites now allow dramatic transformations to the mood and feel of the hall to be made quickly and easily from the lighting cons

Serbia - ETC's Serbian distributor, Studio Berar, has installed and commissioned the latest generation of lighting at the Palilula Cultural Centre and theatre in Belgrade - complete with ETC lighting, dimming and control.

Studio Berar's marketing manager Lazar Josanov, says, "The theatre's managers were looking for a complete new lighting system which would last them well into 21st century, and which would come with the backup and support that they would need.

"Studio Berar has a long relationship with ETC, and we were quick to recommend them - ETC has always provided an efficient and helpful service, with 24 hour customer support where necessary."

Studio Berar project manager Aleksandar Kruscic, who designed the system, explains, "We supplied ETC's latest update to the Source Four range, the Fresnel, as well as Source Four Zoom, Source Four jr Zoom and S

Mexico - Mexico City-based Representaciones de Audio have been appointed territorial distributors for SGM Lighting.

The agreement was reached with SGM's Antonio Parise during the recent Sound Check Expo in Mexico and the appointment will help the distributor to develop its lighting portfolio.

According to Rep. de Audio's Jaime Celis, the company had first been introduced to the lighting manufacturer whilst it was under the ownership of RCF Group, since they are also distributors for RCF's sister brand dB Technologies.

"SGM already has a good profile in Mexico, largely through its Giottos - which are very popular in rental companies and on TV sets," confirms Celis.

He believes that Rep. de Audio's core markets of rental, installation and broadcast will prove to be fertile ground for SGM's evolving portfolio of LED products - in particular the X-5 and XC-5 strobes.

USA - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light will this week be at PLASA Focus in Nashville, showing the latest LED lighting technology from i-Pix and Core Lighting.

For the last seven years, i-Pix has been creating LED lighting fixtures that have immediately become the favourites of lighting designers working across the full spectrum of entertainment lighting, from concerts and live events to theatre productions. At PLASA Focus, staff from White Light, i-Pix's distributor, will be showing the new i-Line 600 and i-Line 1200 battens. Building on the success of i-Pix's renowned BB range, the i-Lines are six-cell or t12-cell colour-mixing fixtures offering high light output in a beam that is completely blended. The i-Line fixtures deliver over five times the output of the original BB range. The new fixtures have already been put to use lighting the Queen's Diamond Jubilee con

Music in Schools - Violinist Nicola Benedetti has attacked the spending squeeze on music tuition in schools. She said young people needed a cultural identity to replace their obsession with celebrities and in becoming a celebrity. Benedetti began violin lessons at the age of five and went on to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. The 25-year-old told the Radio Times, "I'm fiercely furious about the provision of music in schools."

Benedetti secured a £2m, six-album record contract after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year at 16 and has risen to international fame. She has also been involved in supporting the Big Noise orchestra in Raploch, Stirling - inspired by the Venezuelan El Sistema scheme to help poorer children. The violinist said: "So many people up and down the country are trying to create a better foundation for musical education.

China - The Volkswagen Group presented an exclusive preview of its latest models at the first Volkswagen Group Night in China, which was held recently during the Auto China 2012 exhibition at the Beijing Olympic Swimming Centre. Over 1700 guests turned up for the one-hour event, which took place the evening before the opening of the motor show. The event was planned and coordinated by Filmtec Media GmbH, on behalf of Volkswagen Kommunikation, and technical direction was entrusted to Martin Kuhn.

Seventy-eight Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 24 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, 14 Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500s, 32 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 700s and 18 Clay Paky Sharpys were used at the event together with other lights.

Kuhn explained the advantages of using Clay Paky moving heads for this Night, "The Clay Paky range has been highly successful at this type of event in recent years, an

Australia - "The Prime Minister's Olympic Dinner has become the signature lead-up event in preparation for the Games - to recognise and support those who have been selected to represent Australia in London by raising vital additional funds to support our Olympic team" says Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia.

The Prime Minister's 8th Olympic Dinner, produced by Multiple Award Winning producers -Peter Jones Special Events, held at the Plenary, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, raised over $2m dollars for our Australian Olympic Team, competing at next month's Games.

VIP's included former Prime Ministers, Over 60 past and present Olympians, along with corporate guests.

Entertainment for the evening included a star studded line up featuring Orchestra Victoria, Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, Delta Goodrem, Todd McKenny, David Hobson, Silvie Paladino, Mar

Hong Kong - As the finale to its 2011-12 season, the Hong Kong Ballet opened Turandot, a neo-classical ballet inspired by Puccini's internationally-renowned opera at the Grand Theatre Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

When Puccini passed away, his final opera Turandot was left unfinished, but now in the hands of Australian choreographer Natalie Weir, this work has been transformed into a dramatically alluring and riveting ballet. Accompanied by Puccini's original music, audiences are now taken on a captivating journey of intrigue and spectacle.

Behind the scenes, lighting designer Mak Kwok-Fai utilized more than 40 Philips Vari-Lite automated luminaires for the show in order to enhance the intense emotions and sensations behind Puccini's music and Weir's passionate choreography. The luminaire rig included the VL3000 Spot, VL3500 Spot, the award-winning VLX Wash and the

UK - As booking opened at 9am this morning, strong exhibitor numbers, record breaking pre-registration figures and a new focus on content provision were creating a buzz about PLASA 2012. With four brand new theatres and 80 free-to-attend sessions split into nine new themes, these exciting developments underpin PLASA's commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for visitors and remaining a leader in the provision of education, professional development and knowledge sharing across our industry.

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths comments, "PLASA runs events to provide quality business opportunities, education and thought leadership. The PLASA Show in London is the only entertainment technology event to reinvest its revenue back into the industry it serves - anything that is not invested back into the show is used to help develop technical standards, certification and qualifi

UK - Architainment Lighting has announced it is now a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for Philips Dynalite, adding the controls solutions range to its portfolio of high quality LED lighting and controls.

As a specialist lighting solutions provider of LED systems, controls and lighting accessories, Architainment Lighting is already a value added reseller for other Philips brands including Selecon and Color Kinetics, and has a longstanding relationship with the global leader in lighting. By introducing the Dynalite family of energy-efficient intelligent lighting control solutions Architainment Lighting is looking to further its ability to provide designers and specifiers with a complete solution.

Philips Dynalite has already installed the systems in some of the world's best-known venues and public spaces, including the tallest building in the world, Dubai's Burj Khalifa. John Preston

South Africa - For almost two decades, Johan Stemmet has presented the much-loved South African music game show, Noot vir Noot. When he contacted technical company Blond Productions, it was to tell them of a new thought - the creation of a fresh game show called Musiek Trivia which would be aired on Kyknet, DSTV.

The quiz show would have two contestants competing against each other not unlike the popular Weakest Link, but strictly focussing on music trivia. It was important to have a polished production with a 'wow' factor.

Blond Productions' Pieter Rieck and Christian Ballot worked on ESP Vision to present three potential designs. In fact, Blond were requested to come up with the technical and set design. They worked on their faithful grandMA.

The television studio at ZSE from which Musiek Trivia is broadcast, is a small, compact area. Blond Productions

UK - Prolyte Group has announced the launch of the latest incarnation of its LiteConsole - the XPRS. The performance platform, which previewed at Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound, is now available to consumers through a network of Prolyte partners.

LiteConsole is a versatile podium structure that offers a portable and high-visual-impact solution for any number of applications from live musician and DJ performances, to corporate AV presentations, exhibitions, conferences and retail environments where it makes an eye-catching stand.

This new version "combines all the most desirable features of LiteConsole in a sleeker, lighter package". The design makes the system even easier to assemble - it now takes one person just a matter of minutes. The innovative folding frame design means the LiteConsole XPRS will flat pack and fit into an average car, thus leaving plenty of room fo

Puerto Rico - Yanni sets himself apart by choosing historical places for his live recordings: previous settings include the Acropolis in Greece, the Taj Mahal in India, the Forbidden City in China and the Royal Albert Hall in the UK.

His most recent concert and DVD recording took place in another majestic location, at Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico. The front wall of the fortress became the central visual attraction for the two-day concert and recording acting as a background for the stage positioned in front on the grass near the ocean. "The concept was to illuminate the wall of El Morro, as the fort was the main part of the scenography," said lighting designer Bud Horowitz.

"Yanni has been waiting 20 years to perform at El Morro," continued Horowitz. "The advantage of working with Chauvet LED products was the ability to play with colour

UK - Northern Light has recently completed design and installation work at Mareel - Shetland's new music, cinema and creative industries centre.

Located in Lerwick and due to open in late summer, Mareel boasts a live performance auditorium, two cinema screens, rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, education and training spaces, a digital media production suite, broadcast facilities and a café bar area.

Northern Light was called upon to provide specialist design and installation of wiring and containment across the whole building to enable the lighting, sound, communications, paging and production cabling to operate as planned.

The scope of work completed by Northern Light included the supply, installation and connection of all the production lighting distribution and control cabling, as well as the supply and installation of all the sound, communications, paging and pr

Europe - Martin Professional's new 1000 W MAC Viper Profile successfully debuted on the first European stadium leg of Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto world tour with lighting / production designer Paul Normandale reporting: "I've found my 1200W replacement and what's more - I can lift it!"

The new MAC Viper Profile is the first fixture in Martin's 1000 W MAC Viper family of automated luminaires. In May, Normandale field-tested the fixture on a string of European Coldplay shows alongside a host of other MAC fixtures - MAC 2000 Beam XBs, MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 250 Beams and MAC 101s.

"The Vipers were used to light the LED screen fascias, for which they needed to be bright and have a considerable zoom, which they did very well," Normandale stated, adding that he plans to put more Viper Profiles on the rider when the tour returns to Europe in late August. Lighting

USA - The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's new international terminal, the Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal, features an art installation entitled Light Waves: Atlanta, a large-scale art installation by Christopher Janney, artistic director for PhenomenArts, Inc. The piece, part of the Airport Art Programme, is one of five works for the new terminal.

The piece, described by Janney as "an abstraction of Georgia in colour and sound", features 32 Chauvet Intimidator Scan LED 300 scanners, 68 horizontal panes of coloured glass - stacked in 17 sections with four panes in each section - along a 160ft hallway. As the light from the recessed fixtures in the ceiling passes over the glass, it reflects and refracts creating a continuously changing pattern of colour on the wall.

Janney, who is a trained architect and jazz musician, composed

USA - Environmentally friendly Clay Paky Sharpy met eco-inspired GreenWaves III recently, the third annual event at the University of Central Florida (UCF) that implements environmental and social best practices to promote the need for conscious sustainable solutions.

Lighting designer Justin Geiger of California-based Impulse Creative Group used 16 Sharpys for the concert portion of the event, which featured electronic artists and notable DJs. It was billed as the first interactive concert at UCF and took sustainability to the next level by utilizing a PowerLeap dance floor, which uses "Piezo" flooring technology to convert the energy from the crowd into reusable energy for the concert.

Geiger deployed his complement of Sharpys on the main stage at the UCF Arena. "We used them on the wings, flanking a 40ft projection wall and had four on the stage," he rep

South Africa - South Africa's largest performance venue has invested in 77 new Philips Selecon SPX luminaires. The 1,300-seat State Theatre, in the heart of Pretoria, chose the fixtures for its front of house positions to ensure its high profile national and international visiting theatre, opera and ballet companies get the sharp, clean front of house washes and projections they expect.

The theatre complex comprises six venues including a main opera venue, a drama venue and two theatre spaces and receives numerous number one tours from around the world.

Philips Entertainment brand partner DWR Distribution supplied the SPX luminaires to local installer Muthiyane Trading. Duncan Riley of DWR says: "The Philips Selecon's SPX range delivers more light to the stage for its energy consumption (up to 63% more than current industry benchmarks). This allows venues to consider ener

South Africa - Once again Wayne Sproule from Pendragon Dezign was in charge of the technical facets of the PSL Awards, a live broadcast, hosted at the Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City on 27 May 2012. The event incorporated over 50 Robe fixtures.

"I still get excited about working on events," commented Sproule. "If I didn't, it would be time to pack up. It is estimated that viewership for this live production was 14m million, and apparently it was the number one tweeted subject between 8pm to 10pm that evening."

A rare occurrence was that for once there was more than enough time for the set up, but what really made it a success were the people involved. "I just love working with this team," said Sproule. "There is no drama, everyone gets on with it. I call them 'The Wrinkle Rockers Road Show,' and while there is fun and laughter, nothing is a pro

USA - Located at the new Marlins Park, The Clevelander, an innovative version of The Clevelander South Beach, utilizes nine Chauvet Professional moving heads to bring a taste of South Beach to the ballpark.

The venue allows for approximately 250 guests to access field level seats, while also providing a full bar, pool and live DJ set featuring professional dancers and body painting.

Tasked with lighting The Clevelander, Louie Uribe identified the back walls as canvases to create wall art on. At first, he selected nine Chauvet Professional Q-Spot 260-LED moving heads "to experiment with because of their affordability, but we really love them".

He plans to implement more Chauvet Professional Q-Spot 260-LED moving heads at the Marlins Park location as well as The Clevelander South Beach location. "There are a lot of new fixtures out there, but Chauvet is head on

Ireland - Westlife played two highly emotional farewell concerts over two nights at Croke Park stadium in Dublin in their very last live performances, capping a 14 year chart-topping, multi-million record selling career.

Lighting for this - and the six week tour preceding the two 85,000 capacity sold out shows at Croke Park - was supplied by UK lighting and visuals rental company HSL. It included nearly 200 moving lights.

The lighting design was created by Dave 'Biccie' Lee and operated on the tour at Croke Park by Simon Horn. Mike Oates project managed for HSL, who were working for the tour's technical production co-ordinators Production North, under the auspices of production manager Karen Ringland.

Says Mike Oates, "We were immensely proud to work on this tour and the two landmark Croke Park shows. The show was absolutely stunning and a real tribute to all involved i

France - Lighting designer Sarah Landau has turned to Martin Professional's award-winning MAC Aura LED wash light, along with MAC 700 Profiles, Atomic 3000 strobes and Martin LC Series LED video panels, to light French electronic band M83's current world tour.

Touring in support of their latest album, "Hurry Up, We're Dreaming," Landau's design recalls 'a vision of the future as imagined in the past' with elements like laser tag arenas, late 80s school supply graphic design (Trapper Keepers, Lisa Frank...), and old sci-fi flicks as her inspiration.

"The first tours included a simpler LED mover," she explains, "but as the shows grew, I was able to upgrade to the Aura. I love the look of its bubbly face and felt it would fit really well with the retro-futuristic look of the show. When zooming, it resembles a little alien with compound eyes.

"The A

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