UK - It is a common saying that musicians put their heart on stage with every performance. The performance group Tactile and the Sacconi String Quartet recently combined forces to create Heartfelt, an immersive musical experience to the tune of Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, controlled by Cobalt software on ETC's Gadget and ETCnomad controllers.

Before the show, audience members are given a small wooden 'heart' - each with one performer's name engraved on it - to hold during the performance. And each musician is outfitted with a heart rate monitor that delivers live data to Cobalt. "Our system uses custom Java software to grab the heart rate data over Wi-Fi and send it out as a series of master level commands to ETCnomad using UDP [User Datagram Protocol] strings," explains lighting designer Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn. "The cues throughout the sho

Spain Top selling artist of the year, singer-songwriter Pablo Alboran, toured the country recently beneath a cover of Elation Cuepix Panels on what was arguably the biggest tour in Spain this year, his popular Terral tour. The young musician, who has sold over one million albums and topped record sales in Spain for an incredible 60 weeks, has also reigned over the charts in Portugal and is popular across Latin America.

AV rental and production company Fluge Audiovisuales supplied the Cuepix Panels for the Spanish leg of the tour, which kicked off in May and played large arenas and outdoor venues in every major city through October.

"The Cuepix Panels were an important element in the lighting design for this tour," stated Chus Fernandez, who created the lighting design for the show and also served as tour op. "We used them to reinforce different lighting scenes w

Germany - West London-based lighting and visuals specialist Colour Sound Experiment was asked to supply lighting, LED screen and crew for the Perry's Stage at the first Lollapalooza event in Europe - staged at Templehof Airfield in Berlin, a famous and much loved landmark.

Perry's stage, named after Perry Farrell, Jane's Addiction lead singer who started the Lolla phenomena in 1991, is now synonymous with the best of dance beats and sounds and this year headliners included Fatboy Slim.

Colour Sound's crew of seven was led by Kester McClure. On site, they all worked very closely with Festival Republic production managers Spike Beecham and Kevin Sutherland, and in fact it was their third gig this summer working with this same production team who are "Fantastic, really on the ball all the time and ensure that any technical support - plant, riggers, extra generators, etc. - i

USA - Kentucky rock band My Morning Jacket's seventh album, The Waterfall has had critics and fans enraptured with its eclecticism and there's never a dull moment with the band's live shows either as lighting designer Marc Janowitz will attest.

The recent US leg of the current Waterfall tour campaign saw him using 26 x Robe BMFL Spots and 10 x Pointes as the primary moving lights on a rig supplied by VER together with other moving lights.

The BMFLs were deployed on three overhead trusses - five upstage, seven on the mid-truss and six on the front truss, with another eight on the floor behind & wrapping around the band - all adding to a dramatic and intense show that has delighted audiences across the US.

The Pointes were also positioned on the floor, sitting on flight cases in a straight line upstage.

Marc has worked for MMJ since 2006 and has a great rapport with t

UK - PLASA members are invited to attend a joint PLASA/UKTI round-table event taking place on 3 December in London. "The focus will be on trading overseas, the impact on your business and overcoming perceived barriers. Come and find out how UK Trade & Investment can help you, whether you are just starting to think about exporting or want to do more," says PLASA.

The event kicks off with a networking lunch followed by an address by Richard Parry, who has been involved in export promotion for over 20 years in a variety of roles. Parry will inform attendees about UKTI and outline what they are doing currently to help UK businesses. This will be followed by Matt Lloyd of GDS and Chris Murphy of Velta talking about their experiences using UKTI services and the benefits exporting has brought to them.

There will be plenty of time to ask questions, share knowledge and, hopef

UK - The fourth Lumiere festival closed on Sunday night. First estimates put the number of visitors at around 200,000 attending the festival over four nights. The festival is produced by Artichoke and commissioned by Durham County Council with additional support from Arts Council England and a raft of sponsors.

Once again, the city became a new and temporary community of international artists, local people, arts professionals and visitors, all united by a mutual interest in art and a hunger for a transformative collective experience.

Audiences braved the elements to see 29 extraordinary art installations spread across Durham's city centre, including a whale in the River Wear, a ghostly fog beneath the Cathedral, and 250 locals storming the 50m-high arches of Durham Viaduct, in Asalto Durham, a projected artwork by Spanish artist Daniel Canogar.

On Saturday, Lumiere's organis

UK - Core's ColourPoint Mk 2 battery powered LED up-lighters were used to great effect by event production company Subfrantic to dramatically illuminate the Imperial War Museum London in Southwark.

The magnificent building - originally built 1812-14 as the Bethlem Hospital - was lit in red for Remembrance Day as it provided a charismatic venue for a high profile charity fundraising event staged by the City Veterans Network (CVN) to raise money for three different military service related charities.

Subfrantic provided full technical production - sound, lighting, video and staging - for the gala dinner event.

Twelve of the 24 ColourPoints were deployed to illuminate the six large Doric columns which are the central feature of the building's portico entrance on Lambeth Road, explains Subfrantic's Marcus Weatherley who designed lighting for the event.

The other 12 were used t

USA - Everlast Productions, Inc. in Miami, Florida has taken delivery of 12 Clay Paky Stormy fixtures, which were quickly dispatched to the dynamic Fitness-Concert at the 8th Annual Zumba Instructor Convention. .

Everlast Productions provides creative and technical solutions for live event experiences worldwide. The company, which has a complement of Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures, decided to invest in Stormys after seeing them in action at an A.C.T demo. "The quality of the fixture was very high, and the light was phenomenal. We thought they'd be an exciting addition to our inventory," says lighting designer David McCranie.

The annual Zumba convention, at Orlando's Orange County Convention Centre, is the largest gathering of the global Zumba family. This year's Zumba Fitness-Concert was a 90-minute, non-stop show featuring Zumba creator Beto Perez and a dozen artists, in

France - Tributes are being paid throughout the concert touring community to the victims of the Bataclan terror attacks in Paris on Friday. Among the 89 people killed at the venue were two well-known to members of the touring community: Nathalie Jardin, the 31-year-old lighting and stage manager, and 36-year-old British man Nick Alexander, who was touring with Eagles of Death Metal, selling merchandise.

Immediately following the attacks, Nathalie's father Patrick told French media that although he knew she had been working at the venue, he had been unable to locate her. It later transpired that Nathalie had died of gunshot wounds. "It seems that my daughter is dead," he later told French media.

Nathalie, who was nick-named 'Natalight', had worked at the venue since November 2011. A Facebook page has been set up f

USA - Apollo Design Technology has announced the appointment of Will Linnemeier as sales director. In this role, Linnemeier will be responsible for sales strategies to drive market expansion, sales effectiveness and optimizing the dealer and customer sales experience. He also will manage Apollo's dealer network and customer relationships.

"Will brings a ton of experience to the Apollo sales team. His leadership, understanding of the dealer relationship and ability to drive the customer to our products will make 2016 a very exciting year." Said Joel Nichols, president of Apollo Design.

Prior to joining Apollo Design Technology, Linnemeier was vice-president of international sales and business development for ABC Industries, Inc. He brings over 25 years of sales experience and an in-depth understanding of how to drive incremental revenue within sales, channel and custo

USA - Scott Guenther of Full Stage Productions, Texas chose Arkaos MediaMaster Pro 4.0 to help create the haunting, atmospheric backdrop to aerial performances from Dallas-based dance academy, Dance Xpress. The production, entitled Smooth Operators, was a tribute to the music and work of English singer-songwriter, Sade.

Guenther used a single projector to project a mélange of imagery onto the back wall of the performance space, which mixed live and pre-recorded content for the show. Guenther filmed images of the dancers in stages of preparation for the performance - close ups of faces, arranging hair, donning point shoes etc - and juxtaposed these with live images of the performers in mid-air and on stage.

The opening number to the show (DSC 0013) included 'shadow' images of the dancers which Guenther was able to synchronise with the live performers, using MediaM

Australia - After successfully supplying the Australian version of Dancing With The Stars with lighting and rigging for 14 seasons, Resolution X has again delivered for the fifteenth. "We are proud of our long association with DWTS and each season we have seen the lighting evolve from the last" said Tim Hall, managing director of Resolution X.

This year was no exception with the addition of Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE and Mythos. The rig included both A.leda B-EYE K20 units flown and the A.leda B-EYE K10 on the floor. The smaller K10 were well suited to the space available but surprised with flexibility and output keeping up with the bigger units above. With so many dance numbers and little programming time proved their worth with flexibility. The ability to provide wash, beam or effects allowed for great variety across the season.

The Clay Paky Mythos was chosen b

No Words - The owners of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris have said they have "no words" to express their sorrow following last Friday's attacks. Eighty-nine people were killed and more than 100 injured when gunmen fired into the crowd during a concert by US band Eagles of Death Metal. "Our thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their loved ones," the venue wrote on Twitter. It also thanked people for the support it had received since the attack. Nathalie Jardin who was in charge of the house lighting at the venue was among the victims, as was merchandiser Nick Alexander. Rest in Peace.

Spending Cuts - UK Theatre president Rachel Tackley has warned the industry to expect "pretty hideous" cuts in the government's upcoming spending review. She also voiced fears that, because the effect of cuts are not felt immediately, the general pub

UK - dbn Lighting provided full illumination for the 2015 Manchester City Centre festive lights switch on, getting the pre-Christmas party in the north-west off to a rocking start. The event was hosted by popular local radio station Key 103's Debbie Mac with long-running soap Coronation Street stars Kym Marsh and Catherine Tyldesley. Record crowds - estimated at around 20,000 - were entertained by Scouting for Girls and Lemar, the casts of Cinderella and The Sound of Music, both currently playing in the city, together with a local choir.

dbn has been involved with the fun-filled event for the last six years and this year Nick Buckley once again designed the lighting and co-ordinated everything on site. The stage moved to a new position on the Princes Street side of Albert Square, right in front of the imposing Victorian Gothic architecture of Manchester Town Hall,

USA - Heading into the 2015-16 season, the New York Rangers and their fans had plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The NHL club had earned a team record 113 points the previous year and reached the Eastern Conference finals. Even better things were expected this year, when Rangers faithful gathered en masse at Madison Square Garden's Foyer Court on West 33rd Street in Manhattan for a celebration before the team's opening game. The throngs of fans on hand were able to follow the festivities on a large video wall made of MVP Ta8 Curve LED panels from Chauvet Professional.

"We had the video wall positioned on top of the foyer steps and showed IMAG, interviews with players, advertising messages, performances by bands and break up patterns," said Darren Lussier of Image Production Services, which created the display. "It was a bright sunny day, but all of these images

France - Organisers of the Paris-based trade show JTSE have announced that the exhibition will take place next week as planned, despite the recent terror attacks on the city.

A statement reads: "We want to express our affection to all the families of victims. The International Show JTSE 2015 will take place as planned in Paris on 24 and 25 November 2015 in the Dock Pullman. As Organisers of the show we trust our visitors and our exhibitors for the best running of this event. We are all together!"

(LSi Online)

Austria - This year was the sixth Lake Festival, the biggest EDM event in Austria. More than 100 artists performed on five different stages, including Avicii, David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Steve Aoki, Alesso and Tiësto.

Thirty six Clay Paky Sharpys, 34 Clay Paky Mythos units, one grandMA2 full-size and one grandMA2 light were used (along with other equipment) at the festival, which took place at Unterpremstätten on Schwarzl Lake.

The lighting team consisted of lighting designer Daniel Pusnik, and Manfred Nikitser, who dealt with the technical management and MA programming, supported by Otto Schildknecht. Kenny Lippert was the lighting crew chief.

Manfred Nikitser reports, "For the stages, we first of all - of course - followed the headliners' instructions and requests. They were very cooperative and agreed to the idea of having a single lighting design for

UK - The artwork Fogscape #03238 was presented at Lumiere Durham last week. Fogscape #03238 was a collaboration between veteran Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya and Simon Corder of London.

Conjuring the spirit of St Cuthbert's Mist, Fogscape #03238 was made of 1,500 high pressure nozzles along 150m of 'fog line' placed on the steep bank of the River Wear beneath Durham Cathedral. Nozzles, high-pressure lines and pumps were supplied by French brouillard specialists Dutrie.

Northumbrian Water poured 15t of mains water an hour to keep the show flowing. Two hundred light fixtures were installed by Newcastle based Nitelites - 100 on the banks of the river, 50 lighting the lower wall of the cathedral, and 50 on the roofs of the cathedral to light the towers.

In keeping with the elemental nature of the piece, most of the fixtures were PAR 64 heads. The lights were controlled over a wi

USA - Emulation Touch from Elation Professional is a new generation lighting controller that turns your tablet into a powerful lighting console, says the company.

Easy to use and budget friendly, Emulation Touch is designed exclusively for use with the Cuety app, the intuitive Emulation Touch programmer software. Available now for iPad from the Apple App Store and available soon for Android tablets from the Android app store, the Cuety user interface enables users to take full advantage of your tablet's mobility and multi-touch display.

Two hardware interface versions are available - Emulation Touch 1 and Emulation Touch 2. The Emulation Touch devices contain the powerful engine that runs a show, calculates fade times and renders dynamic effects. A standard cuelist-based system for control of up to 64 fixtures with 64 playbacks and 48 cues per playback, it includes a powerful

UK - Lighting manufacturer GDS won an award at the recent Bristol Post's Green Capital Awards, held at the city's Marriot hotel. In 2015 Bristol became the first UK city to be awarded the status of European Green Capital. This annual award, an initiative of the European Commission, is designed to promote and reward the efforts of cities to improve the environment. The city won the award by achieving high environmental standards, driving ambitious goals for sustainable development and acting as an inspirational role model to other cities.

In recognition of Bristol's achievement, the Post newspaper, with the help of main sponsor Velopost, scoured the city to find the people and organisations who make an exceptional contribution to the green agenda. After considering a host of nominations, each of the eleven categories was narrowed down to three nominees, with GDS triumphant in the

Chile - The opening ceremony of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2015 in Chile was filled with colour and performances in the National Stadium, honouring the Chilean culture and the new generations interested in the local traditions. W-DMX was one of the stars, along with OEM partner Clay Paky, both brands distributed exclusively by Valook in Chile.

From Clay Paky there were 24 of the powerful new Mythos moving-heads, with 2 W-DMX Whitebox F-1 units, receiving the data from another WhiteBox F-1 at front-of-house. The setup included 12 dBi antennas on the transmitters and eight dBi outdoor antennas on the receivers, boosting up the signal to more than the total length of the football stadium.

Twenty-four nations participated in the grand opening of the Cup, in a show designed around the theme Colours of Chile. The performance was produced by Esteban Icardi, who was involved with

Mexico - Las Lunas Del Auditorio - Mexican live performance and music industry's most prestigious awards - took place at the 10,000 capacity venue and founder of the event, Auditorio Nacional. For the first time, the event's moving lights were exclusively Robe.

This vast production team from Auditorio Nacional was co-ordinated by Francisco Serrano, producer and director of Lunas del Auditorio, and general manager Salvador Vera Islas.

The striking lighting design was created by German 'Tiffy' Castellanos and the equipment was supplied by LED Project, both based in the vibrant metropolis of DF.

A glittering array of the great, the good and the glorious from the Mexican and Latin American world of show business and entertainment rocked the red carpet, and worldwide industry talent lined up to collect the coveted awards. It is the only event in Mexico to be broadcast live across

UK - White Light was recently tasked with working on two separate large-scale projects at the Barbican Centre, Europe's largest performing arts venue. The Concert Hall needed a major upgrade of its moving light rig and control system whereas the Barbican Theatre required a like-for-like replacement of its current rig, whilst incorporating some additional LED lighting. WL's role was to not only provide the equipment but ensure that this would enhance the performances in each space and provide an unforgettable experience for the audience.

The Concert Hall's moving light rig has to cope with the variety of acts that frequent the space whilst also be suitable for its busy schedule, with a typical day consisting of an orchestral rehearsal followed by a corporate event followed by an evening concert.

Jason Kew, the Barbican Centre's technical supervisor who oversees all of the light

USA - When the CMA Awards come to Nashville, it is a multi-night event for Music City. Country music bombshell Jana Kramer performed under Bandit lighting in a spectacular rooftop concert special.

Designed by Victor Fable, Bandit provided Chauvet RH1 Hybrids, Lekos and Sunstrips for the event, giving the Whiskey crooner a striking set.

"The RH1 Hybrids were necessary to create the Night Penetrating Beam to create a ceiling of light amongst the Nashville skyline," said lighting director Andy Knighton. "The Sunstrips offered a tungsten hue for illuminating people, and was also a rather pleasing toy to provide animation and movement."

The event took place on a roof in Downtown Nashville on Broadway, one of the city's main sources of honky-tonks and live music venues. Bandit's crew worked tirelessly to transport everything necessary for the show

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