Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Projects

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Germany - The Kinderlachen Gala in Dortmund was illuminated by Prolights products, an annual event celebrating individuals distinguished for their humanity, altruism, and civic engagement throughout the year.
René Geißel, responsible for the technical implementation of the event's lighting, selected the LED moving heads from Prolights' Astra series, including the Astra Profile400, Astra Wash19Pix, and AstraHybrid330 models.
"My requirement was clear: I needed a spotlight for the light show and another for white light," René Geißel explained. "The Prolights Astra Profile400 were excellent for white light, maintaining colour stability even at reduced intensity levels and with various zoom settings." For this year's light show, Geißel first used the new Astra Hybrid330, which proved to be versatile and functional across different lighting setup configurations.

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UK - Take one artiste, one hyper-cardioid wireless mic and 35 years of comedy history and you have Eddie Izzard’s Remix Tour Live. Take an unimaginably disparate collection of venues and halls, ranging from 2,200-cap down to 840 - some with tiered balconies, and some with no flying facilities - add in weird sound effects ranging from dinosaurs to Darth Vader (and a whisper to a scream) and you potentially have a mighty headache for the production team.
Eddie has toured with Martin Audio’s scalable, compact and versatile WPS line array previously, and her production crew are well aware of the system’s adaptability. In fact, Solotech senior account manager, Robin Conway, discloses that “the last Eddie Izzard tour [Wunderbar, in 2019] was part of the reason I bought WPS in the first place. This time around production and I wanted to try and provide the sam

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USA - Virtual event production company, The Famous Group, are well-known for creating memorable virtual fan experiences. Harnessing the power of Stage Precision’s SP software, The Famous Group has stepped into a new era of virtual event control, thanks to SP’s camera calibration tools, which they recently deployed on projects at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“We’ve been working with the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC at the Bank of America stadium since 2022,” recalls Erik Beaumont, head of mixed reality at The Famous Group. “Unlike other projects, our work with these teams is ongoing, with mixed reality being used permanently. The mixed reality Panther has become an important part of games for the Carolina Panthers, and the need to recalibrate the system before every match was becoming a challenge in terms of resources and peoplep

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South Africa - JP Ridgard is an avid user of Obsidian Control Systems’ Onyx lighting control platform and in 2023 turned to the growing brand’s NX4 lighting console for the Lowveld Gin Fest in Mbombela.
“The NX4 proved to be a game changer for me during this event,” reflected JP, who procured the console from Obsidian’s local distributor in South Africa, Electrosonic. “Its built-in touch screen and ample work surface made it the perfect tool for both programming and playback.”
The 2023 Lowveld Gin Fest took place 9-10 September at the Lowveld Botanical Gardens and featured a strong line-up of artists. JP, a freelance lighting engineer, orchestrated an array of dynamic lighting looks that complemented performances throughout the two-day festival.
The NX4 is a full-featured console in Obsidian’s ONYX lighting control platform. It offers 44 playbacks

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USA - The City of Paramount in California kickstarted the holiday season at the end of November with the 25th instalment of its annual Tree Lighting Celebration. Lit by a variety of ADJ luminaires, the free event was attended by thousands of locals and featured live musical and dance performances.
The evening culminated when Santa Claus arrived on the scene surrounded by a flurry of synthetic snowflakes created by six of ADJ’s powerful Entour Snow machines. He then joined city officials on stage to throw a large lever shaped like a candy cane which turned on the downtown Christmas lights.
A holiday traditional which started a quarter of a century ago, the City of Paramount’s annual Tree Lighting Celebration has become one of the biggest events of the local community calendar. It regularly attracts crowds of 8,000 to 10,000, however this year’s 25th Anniversary ed

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Australia - An array of stars gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Michael Gudinski at Mushroom 50 Live! In Melbourne at the end of November.
Gudinski founded Mushroom Records in 1972. Over the years, he recorded, promoted and nurtured a generation of transformative Australian stars like MacKenzie Theory, the Skyhooks, The Choirboys and Kylie Minogue, among many others. Along the way, he became a legend, earning the title ‘father of Australian music’.
Honouring his legacy, the Mushroom Group recognised Gudinski’s half-century of achievements by holding Mushroom 50 Live!, a live and broadcast show that featured 50 songs from 50 years of the record label Gudinski founded. Although the programme covered a wide range of eras, genres and onstage styles, the personality and passion of each performer was beautifully reflected in a versatile lighting des

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UK - Stereo Covent Garden is the creation of Experimental Group, known for luxury hospitality spaces throughout Europe and the United States. A vibrant and varied music programme is offered each night, beginning with a house band providing relaxed vibes, before the stage is turned over to a rotating series of resident DJs.
The interiors of Stereo Covent Garden have been designed by London-based studio Afroditi, which has created a moody atmosphere for Stereo's interiors, using lighting and mirrors reminiscent of the prohibition-era. Considering the opulent interiors and the wide area to cover, it was crucial to design a compact sound system that could provide crystal-clear sound while also fitting within limited available space or diverting customers' attention.
Solotech UK Group was appointed to design and install the lighting and audio solution for Stereo. Solotech c

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USA - There are strong evocative feelings tied to time and place in Jane Chambers 1980 landmark play, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. That’s often the case with cultural milestones, a category this play certainly fits into, being the first major lesbian drama.
Lighting designer R.S. Buck and the rest of the production team appreciated the significance of this when they worked on a recent production of the 43-year-old classic at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, but their vision extended beyond the play’s historical context to focus on the stories of the eight women portrayed in this drama.
"As we worked on the play, we were less interested in highlighting it as a period piece, and more in showing the authenticity and relevance of these women’s stories,” said Buck. “So, all of us on the design team worked hard to create a world that didn’t distract

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Australia - While visitors to the BBC Earth Experience in Melbourne are being transported on a journey through the natural world, a new video explains the technical magic behind the scenes.
The BBC Earth Experience is an immersive exhibition narrated by Sir David Attenborough which has recently opened at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Produced in collaboration with Moon Eye Productions, Live Nation, BBC Studio and Tinker Imagineers, the multi-room digital art experience guides visitors through Earth's diverse ecosystems across seven continents.
What sets Melbourne’s BBC Earth Experience apart is the playback technology used for this installation Australian video technology and production supplier, TDC, harnessed the innovative BeeBlade media server from HIVE to power the entire project.
Michael Hassett, managing director, TDC begins the b

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Sri Lanka - The production of Kuweni the Musical by Charitha Attalage showcased the seamless integration of Allen & Heath's audio equipment with the multidisciplinary performance.
A captivating multi-sensory experience uniting a diverse team of composers, musicians, visual artists, songwriters, and more to create an immersive performance, the musical took place over four days with five sold-out shows at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksha Theatre.
Allen & Heath's audio solutions played a pivotal role in bringing the production to life, with the equipment line-up including a dLive S7000 Surface, two DM64 MixRacks, four DX168 expanders, and three networking cards (gigaACE, Waves V3, and Dante 128x128).
Handling both FOH and monitors on the dLive S7000 was audio engineer and founder of rental company Universal Sound Productions, Malinda Lowe. Lever

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USA - An accomplished painter when she isn’t busy as a LD, Denise Simpson says that she often likes to play with colours to do things a little differently when designing shows. This was evident this December when she lit The Christmas Experience, a well-orchestrated one-hour musical programme at the Lexington Baptist Church.
“Often one of the unique ways that I create looks is by slightly offsetting colours in some of my big monochromatic looks,” remarked Simpson. “I generally lean towards monochromatic looks as I am building up the end of a song, and also for those big high energy numbers. I love building bright saturated colour scenes.
“In this case, I chose my colour palettes based on how the music felt to me and how the performers and musicians presented the piece. Also, very important to this event, my palettes were chosen by working closely with

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Germany - The upper Franconian town of Wunsiedel is not only home to the largest rock labyrinth in Europe, but also the oldest open-air stage in Germany, which is used by the Luisenburg Festival every year during the summer months. The performance area of the main stage extends over several levels amidst rocks and forest. In this natural setting, the technical team at the Luisenburg Festival once again used weatherproof spotlights from Fusion by GLP this year.
Twenty-four X-PAR 12Z, 24 Fusion Stick FS20, 12 Fusion SuperNova SN70 and four GLP impression X5 washlights formed part of the lighting design for the 2023 season, with the Sticks FS20 having been specified for the third year in a row.
The lighting of the rock stage is redefined year after year based on the performance plan, with the position of the material defining the requirements, as Michael Lindner, assistan

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Germany - Harmonic Sound has chosen to expand its inventory by investing in Prolights' Astra Hybrid330.
Matthias Führer, head of the lighting technology team at Harmonic Sound, had clear ideas about the projector: "We were looking for a compact and lightweight moving light that still offered high brightness and precise optics; of course, it also had to be silent," he explains. "Furthermore, the projector was not only intended for illuminating performances but also for projections. Additionally, the quality of craftsmanship and ergonomics are important aspects that should always be considered."
The specifications set by Harmonic Sound were met by the Astra Hybrid330 from Prolights. After delivery, the company immediately put the projectors into action during the Allgäuer Festival 2023 in Kempten.
"The Astra Hybrid330 impressed us from the start," Matthias stated

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USA - Alec Morris from Anthrolight Productions in the UK embarked on a North American tour this autumn with guitarist and ex-Genesis member Steve Hackett, illuminating the performances using an NX1 lighting console from Obsidian Control Systems.
The 31-show tour, Foxtrot at 50, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Genesis's Foxtrot album, kicked off on 3 October in Montreal and concluded on 18 November in Los Angeles. It marked Morris' first time designing and operating lighting for the guitarist, with tour manager Adrian Holmes overseeing the logistics.
Alec began designing lighting on a Martin LightJockey and M-Series consoles years ago, transitioning to Obsidian after Elation took over the console line. “The software kept developing and improving,” he says. “I saw improvements in functionality and the support was excellent, so I continued to use it.

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UK - The close of Entec’s 30th anniversary year as the first-call production supplier to The Bootleg Beatles has coincided with the Fab Four themselves returning to the top of the singles chart.
The Bootlegs are currently traversing the UK on another successful Christmas tour as they wrap up 2023 - a year that witnessed the passing of co-founder and partner, and original ‘George Harrison’, Andre Barreau.
“It’s hit us all hard and I miss Andre so much, as we all do,” says management partner Neil Harrison who, as ‘John Lennon’, founded the band with Andre in 1980 after co-starring in the hit West End musical Beatlemania. “He knew The Beatles’ history with forensic detail, and was able to direct the authenticity of the costumes, the video content and the music with absolute precision. He instinctively knew what was right or wrong.”
At a

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Australia - Seoul-born but now Bondi-based artist Vicki Lee recently opened her new gallery space in the neon-lit landscape of Potts Point, Australia. A love letter to Sydney, the gallery celebrated its launch with Lee’s new exhibition The Sound of Yellow. Playing with solfeggio frequencies - which have been proven to reduce stress, improve sleep and increase creativity - Genelec helped plug guests into the introspective exhibition.
The project began with Genelec’s Australian distribution partner Studio Connections, who were introduced to Lee through a mutual friend. Always advocating for the sonic power of Genelec, Studio Connections knew straight away that the brand would be an excellent choice for Lee’s immersive project. “It was a challenging concept which pushed us out of our comfort zone, but as we were relying on a Genelec system, we knew that the resul

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Denmark - Forty Astera NYX Bulbs were central to a kinetic light sculpture that was created for London-based creative agency Audience’s design for a recent Deloitte Shared Services Conference (SSC) staged at the Bella Centre, Copenhagen.
Audience’s project director for the event, Neil Scrivener, working on it for the third year, explained that the Deloitte team wanted the SSC’s plenary sessions to be staged in the round, which presented challenges for both set and scenic designs as nice clean 360-degree sightlines are vital.
Audience’s creative team, led by client and strategy director Stephen McIntosh, proposed a scheme for a contemporary plenary space incorporating two large 20m-wide x 4-metre-deep LED screens with a special ‘light feature’ above the stage.
They then worked with Neil and lighting designer Paul van dan Heijkant - working on the eve

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UAE - In November 2023, aviation companies and organisations descended on the new Dubai World Central aerotropolis for the biennial Dubai Airshow.
The 645,000sq.m site, which features a purpose-built 42,870sq.m exhibition hall - about the size of seven football fields welcomed some 1,046 exhibitors from 60 countries and drew a trade attendee intake of 60,692. Such a massive event required an equally massive amount of rigging, with Tarsus Group contracting Unusual Rigging and Engineering to handle the task.
“In total we provided more than 900 rigging points - 750 of which are hoists, along with more than 2000 metres of truss”, said Unusual rigger, Khalid Ali. “The 2023 airshow has broken all records for us, with only the 2009 event coming close in terms of scale.”
URE has been contracted to provide the rigging for both the Dubai Airshow and MEBAA for over

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Poland - As the year draws to a close, clubbers eagerly awaited the conclusion of the Polish DJ Championships, organised for the fifth consecutive year by Clubsound Management. This hotly anticipated showdown brought together the most talented club players, all vying for the coveted title of the ‘Best in the Art’. Past champions Mave, SPLT, PLK, and Wilga have paved the way, and on 9 December, the next champion emerged at Warsaw's Explosion Club.
The semi-final auditions kicked off at 11am, featuring 20 semi-finalists. In a format introduced in 2019, participants selected one of 10 flash drives with music and had 20 minutes to prepare their 10-minute competition set. The jury, consisting of renowned DJs, club residents, event organisers, and the editor-in-chief of DJ title, Shining Beats, carefully evaluated each performance. The top three DJs -Korn, DJ PLK, and D

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UK - Free Your Mind: The Matrix is the immersive, dance-based reimagining of the ‘90s movie franchise, created specifically as the opening event for Manchester’s impressive new cultural space within Factory International. The brainchild of director Danny Boyle - who teamed up with choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy, composer Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante of Boy Blue, designer Es Devlin and writer Sabrina Mahfouz - the epic vision behind the production inevitably pulled the UK’s most creative talent into its orbit.
Sound design is by Gareth Fry, who specified TiMax SoundHub to handle the complex spatial audio requirements of The Warehouse where the event’s main action takes place.
The production moves from the smaller theatre space in Aviva Studios after the interval and significantly scales up into the vast 21m-high Warehouse, with its aircraft hangar proport

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France - On 12 November in Paris, 163 Robert Juliat Dalis 862 footlights took part in the Chiroptera show, a collaborative project by JR, Damien Jalet and Thomas Bangalter.
The public gathered at the Place de l'Opéra watched an impressive 20-minute ballet in front of the façade of the Palais Garnier, which was dressed in a huge trompe-l'œil fresco revealing the entrance to a cave, that masked the scaffolding currently covering the façade of the building as it is being restored.
"We worked closely with the three artists behind the project, and came up with a very specific lighting concept," says Antoine D'Halluin, associate director of Concept K, a French company specialising in artistic creation. "We had to use lighting to serve the show while ensuring all the technology required for such a creation remained invisible to the audience. We therefore deliberately deci

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Portugal - World Youth Day was first celebrated in 1985 at the invitation of Pope John Paul II, who organised a gathering in Rome on Palm Sunday to celebrate the Youth Jubilee of the Holy Year of Redemption. Sixty thousand young Catholics were expected, but 250,000 people from different countries came. Today, the event is celebrated every three to four years in a different country.
In 2023, World Youth Day took place over six days in Lisbon, attracting over 1.5m attendees. The largest event ever to be hosted in the city of Lisbon, the expansive, 100-hectare riverside Parque Tejo served as the primary location, with a massive stage and a series of screens and audio systems set up along a 3.5km-long open-air space to accommodate the international audience.
Supporting the event with concert audio capable of serving the massive crowds was an L-Acoustics K Series sound sy

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New Zealand - The recent integration of an Allen & Heath dLive system into Kaylee Bell's Boots 'N All tour brought about a transformation, enhancing the performance experience for both the renowned New Zealand singer-songwriter and her band.
As someone who wears multiple hats during the live show, Kaylee Bell's front-of-house engineer and production manager Joshua Anderson described the arrival of the dLive system supplied by Jansen Pro Audio as a game changer for both him and the performers. "Eliminating the task of maintaining show files for multiple consoles has saved me endless amounts of time and has brought a whole new level of consistency to everything,” said Anderson.
One of the stand-out features of the dLive system is its DEEP processing capabilities, which have left the production team astounded. The ability to use onboard processing like DYN8, a pow

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South Africa - The Globe is a 2,200sq.m multipurpose event venue at the heart of Durban’s Suncoast entertainment and leisure complex. It’s one of KZN’s and the country’s most popular event spaces and recently took delivery of new Robe Painte and LEDWash 600+ moving lights.
The new fixtures are part of an ongoing upgrade programme that ensures the venue systems stay abreast of the latest and most appropriate production technologies to offer their clients and guests, and were delivered by Robe’s South African distributor, DWR.
At the centre of the drive to get the new kit was Thabo Ntsala, audio visual specialist / manager for Suncoast Casino, Hotels & Entertainment.
As head of the technical department in Durban, Thabo is responsible for the technical teams looking after all the audio and visual infrastructure in the complex, its ongoing technical r
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