The ceremony took place on 13 March 2014 and the winner was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the jury, which consisted of journalists from all around the world, representing more than a hundred industry journals.
This is the fifteenth time the annual MIPA awards have been presented. They have been extended this year, for the first time, from the world of musical instruments to the field of stage lighting and sound (PIPA awards). The fact Pasquale Quadri is the first person from the lighting industry to receive this prestigious award is therefore particularly significant.
Pasquale Quadri, better known as Paky, is a well-known entrepreneur in the Bergamo area, although he is not the kind of person who loves to be in the spotlight. Nevertheless every lighting professional knows that he is the creative power-house behind Clay Paky, an Italian company that today exports 97% of its production and whose sophisticated lights play a leading role on the stages of the world's most important events and shows.
Among the most recent, it is worth remembering the Summer Olympic Games in London, the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Bruno Mars's and Madonna's shows during the Super Bowl finals, Justin Timberlake's, Luciano Ligabue's and Gianna Nannini's tours, the magical performances of Cirque du Soleil, and the ballets at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Among those currently being organized, we can mention Lady Gaga's and the Rolling Stones' world tours.
Now it is the music industry that wants to sing Pasquale Quadri's praises for his contribution to innovation. His passion for technology has given rise to products that use light to bring out the rhythms and atmospheres of musical notes and create emotions. Any show or music event would lose much of its charm without Clay Paky's magical visual effects.
Pasquale Quadri's story is therefore closely intertwined with music and full of great international successes, which range from early lighting effects, such as the Astrodisco, which came to symbolize the discotheque in the 1970s and 80s, to the invention of legendary computerized lights for the rock concert world, such as the GoldenScan, the Sharpy (in 2010), right up to the innovative B-EYE today.
Clay Paky, the company Pasquale Quadri founded in 1976, is entirely Italian. He has never succumbed to the temptation to move it to countries with lower taxes and costs.
(Jim Evans)
