UK - Warner Leisure Hotels owns a chain of 14 rural and costal hotels around the UK. It boasts luxury breaks in Grade I & II listed manors with bespoke packages that include famous faces from the stage, screen and radio in West End-quality performances at Warner’s venues.
With increasingly bigger productions, Warner’s focus is on providing an outstanding guest experience. To this end, it recently undertook a major upgrade to the sound system in the ballroom at its Cricket St. Thomas Manor Hotel in Somerset – reputed haunt of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton and the setting for much of 1980s TV comedy To The Manor Born - selecting an L-Acoustics Kiva II system to improve audio coverage and fulfil rider expectations for the venue’s busy entertainment programme.
“Billy Ocean, Aswad, 10CC and Jane McDonald have previously performed here, and we have an exciting line up for the coming months. All of these bigger acts, their engineers and production teams, expect to have a top calibre PA system. We used to hire in and ground stack systems, which served the purpose but as a temporary installation, you can’t cover the room comprehensively and there are aesthetic sightline issues with two big stacks of PA,” explains David Hall, head of technical at Cricket St Thomas. “We also always struggled to deliver even coverage throughout the room - with the house or hired system - to ensure all guests have the same audio experience.”
Hall appointed AVL specialists, Adlib, to carry out the refurbishment led by installations project manager,
UK - In 2009 the 11-mile stretch of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal won the UNESCO World Heritage Status. Situated on the border between England and Wales is the Chirk Canal Aqueduct & Railway viaduct which is a part of the route. This aqueduct was finished in 1801 and has been an important landmark and way of transportation for the region ever since. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site the Welsh Canal & River Trust wanted to do something special.
Enlightened Lighting was commissioned through winning a competitive tender process put forward by those leading the project: The Glandŵr Cymru, The Canal & River Trust in Wales on behalf of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct & Canal World Heritage Site Partnership.
The project formed an exciting challenge for Enlightened Lighting and for their lighting designer, Ben Dodds. He incorporated 36 units of the Showtec Helix S5000 into the setup.
"Enlightened’s continued investment in pro equipment such as the Helix S5000 Q4s enabled the team to fully realise their design at Chirk Aqueduct,” says Dodds. “The team chose the Helix because of their high brightness, ease of changing lenses and the range of beam shaping accessories that they come with out of the box. Some of the arches are almost 30m tall, so it was vital to have a fixture that’s bright enough, had the right lens choices and that could withstand the damp & muddy conditions on site."
Dodds’ decision to use the Helix S5000 fixtures paid dividends, lighting the 200-year old World Heritag
UK - Lighting designer Steve Cameron utilised Vista by Chroma-Q’s Vista 3 lighting & media control system to deliver full concert production values for the Wella 2019 TrendVision Awards, held at London’s Roundhouse.
The Awards are the pinnacle of the annual contest, which recognises some of the UK and Ireland’s most impressive hairdressing talent. Hosted by TV’s Vernon Kay and hairdresser Patrick Cameron, it was attended by 800 industry peers.
With the event putting creative talent centre-stage in a venue steeped in rock ‘n’ roll history, and music’s inescapable influence on the fashion world, the occasion called for a concert-style lighting rig to give it an energetic, theatrical look and feel, whilst at the same time still delivering for its corporate AV requirements.
As a long-time Vista user, Steve knew the control system would deliver his vision, and be able to produce both corporate and rock ‘n’ roll aspects.
He comments: “Vista’s creative visual workflow and graphical interface make complete sense. I can use my time more productively by getting the design into the desk quickly and, in combination with the fantastic FX Engine, keep my attention on the show itself.”
Taking advantage of the Roundhouse’s circular space, Steve’s design was based on the clock face, with 12 spines splaying from a circular truss above the stage and guests.
He utilised Vista 3 to provide lighting & media control for a rig of over 300 fixtures and over 16 universes. In addition to over 130 Martin VDO Sceptron 10 pi
Germany - Nature One, one of Europe's largest festivals for electronic music, celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2-4 August. Consequently the event, which has been based on the former Pydna rocket base in the Hunsrück mountain region since the second year, was simply dubbed ‘The Twenty Five’.
As always, at the centre of the festival site was the huge dancefloor, named Open Air Floor and as in previous years, Gerdon design was responsible for the entire production design. Here dancing takes place in the open air, while the majority of lighting technology - as in a real club - is above the heads of the audience, attached to a 26 x 26m truss construction which was raised to a height of 15m.
Although Nature One does not rely on a lush and decorative backdrop construction like many other EDM festivals, the stage, which measures 46m wide, 18m high and 16m deep, was y impressive, as DJs took their place under the stage roof, renowned from Genesis' 2007 Turn It On Again tour.
While the aim of creating something new every year has been upheld in recent years, the organisers of Nature One decided in this special anniversary year to develop a new design template, with a value that will be further developed in subsequent years.
An essential design element this year was the creation of 48 sheet metal pyramids (in 2 x 2m sections), which were directly attached to the Layher stage construction. These were clad with 25 x 100cm LED panels and equipped in the centre of each with a GLP KNV Cube.
"This gave the stage, which previously consisted
Europe - Philips Professional Display Solutions and Hutchison Technologies worked together to bring transformational change to a leading fitness club with a UK and European roll-out of high impact LED video walls and digital signage. Founded in 1982, David Lloyd Leisure operates David Lloyd Clubs, providing family orientated fitness and leisure facilities across 99 UK sites and a further 15 across mainland Europe.
Looking to meet the demand for HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and the explosion of boutique-studios, the fitness giant met the trend head on with the creation of Blaze. Housed in its purpose-built studio, the standalone instructor-led facility combines cardiovascular training with strength, boxing and martial arts skills to give an intense workout.
Available in 54 sites (with more being added throughout 2019 and beyond), David Lloyd Clubs required an innovative, premium quality Europe-wide display solution in order to create a more immersive and personalised experience for members during classes, whilst also maximising new marketing and engagement opportunities to attract new members and ensure a return on investment.
In order to not only meet but surpass expectations, AV integration specialist Hutchison Technologies - a long term partner of David Lloyd Clubs - teamed up with Philips PDS for the installation of a range of premium Ultra HD connected digital signage and video wall solutions both inside and outside every Blaze studio. Each display runs off a single secure network - bringing true change to David Lloyd Clubs.
UK - When John Legend and his 11-piece band performed at this year’s BluesFest for his only UK show of 2019, it was through a Martin Audio MLA loudspeaker array provided by Capital Sound at the O2 Arena.
Introduced to the event by production manager Neil McDonald in 2017, Capital’s crew won plaudits both from Legend’s own production manager, Chris Stinebrink, and FOH engineer, Paul Klimson (Theory One Productions).
“The MLA system caught my attention from the instant [system tech] Ben Turnbull started the tuning,” he explains. “Both he and [FOH tech] Dave Preston made me feel right at home, and even before Ben dug into the tuning, I noticed that the MLA rig was forward sounding. It didn’t sound like we were in the O2 but at an outdoor festival and I could only surmise that all the energy was coming out of the front of the array with very little spill off the back.
“When Ben was done with the tuning, there was nothing left for me to comment on. I actually peeled off a bunch of processing and EQing I had done on my file from past shows. It felt like a clean slate. The low-end down front was not oppressive but still translated well in the back and upper bowl. There was great transition from mains to side hangs and up to the top seats.”
Consequently, he said, mixing that night had been “a dream”. Of MLA he says: “It was a very forgiving box that I could lean into without any surprises. Our monitor engineer Jon Ostrin said it was a great show from the stage as well. He mentioned the energy coming back was perfect to connect
Germany - At the eighth Electro Magnetic open air festival , almost 60 DJs and live-acts performed on different floors in the UNESCO World Heritage Völklinger Ironworks, a large industrial compound, developed at the end of the 19th century. In 2019 and for the first time the Electro Magnetic Festival celebrated two nights at Völklinger Ironworks.
RCF audio-systems were used on all floors. German event company Triacs was responsible for the technical implementation of the main floor and implemented a RCF HDL 50-A system.
Triacs used several RCF modules on the main floor. Two 10 HDL 50-A line array modules (hanging) together with 16 SUB 9007 (Sub Arc Cardioid) were in place as the main PA. Additionally eight HDL 30-A were used as near-fill. Four TT 1-A covered the VIP zone. TT 052-A modules in combination with In-Ear acted as the monitoring for the control rooms (light, laser, video).
Further companies, involved in the festival included Laserfabrik (lasers), FOG (SFX), Provisuell (video) and Gebrüder Rende Gerüstbau (rigging), Lux and Fabula, Senad Deumic & Jan Eiserloh (planning) and Gerdon Design (lighting design).
(Jim Evans)
USA - Chris Hoff, FOH engineer for rock band Styx, relies on JBL 7 Series Master Reference Monitors to help him dial in studio-quality sound during live performances.
Styx released The Mission, their 16th studio album and first original release in over 10 years in 2017. When the band began touring to support the new record, they enlisted the help Chris Hoff. In order to deliver consistent sound in a wide range of venues, including some with less-than-desirable mix positions, Hoff relies on JBL 7 Series Monitors to make sure his live mixes stack up to Styx’s studio recordings.
“We multi-track every show and I needed a way to compare the live mix I’m doing to the albums,” says Hoff. “The only way to really replicate what's going to be coming out of a PA is to have reference monitors in front of you. It makes it easier for me to bounce back and forth between the album and my multi-tracks to try to match up effects, balances and panning.
“The 7 Series monitors give me a great reference to what I'm actually sending to the PA. When I'm in a really bad mix position, I'm basically mixing off of these and trusting that what I’m feeding to the speakers is translating to the audience.”
Before each show, Hoff uses the previous night’s multi-track recording to tune the PA system. JBL 7 Series monitors provide him with the clear, detailed sound he needs to accurately identify and react to the subtle acoustical challenges of each venue - and according to the fans, Styx has never sounded better.
“One of the blessings, and pos
Europe - Alan Parsons is probably one of the most demanding artists. In the late '60s / early' 70s, he worked as a sound engineer on milestones in music history, including the Beatles albums Abbey Road and Let it be, as well as on Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother and Dark Side of the Moon. As a musician he experienced in the 80's the highlight of his career with his Alan Parsons Project. At that time, however, he barely performed live, as the technology at that time was unable to reproduce the sound of his songs as he had produced them in the studio.
Meanwhile, professional audio technology has caught up, and so dared Alan Parsons to tour again with his recent album The Secret. PM Blue from Hamburg was responsible for the eight-day tour of the musician through Germany. The lighting concept was realised in cooperation with AVM from Schwanewede.
As to be expected, the requirements for the sound engineering in this case were particularly high, as Timo Hille, junior project manager and audio specialist at PM Blue confirms: "Since Alan Parsons was and still is very successful as a producer and recording engineer, his requirements with regards to the sound quality are particularly high. In addition, musically there’s a lot going on with Alan and his seven-member band; The complex arrangements of the songs, in which many instruments overlap, especially in the low-mid range between 120Hz and 800Hz, demand a good mix on one hand, but also a really high-resolution sound system on the other hand."
Pro-ribbon systems from Alco
Indonesia - Guns N’ Roses, continue on their Not in This Lifetime tour – the third highest grossing tour of all time. The 48,000 fans at their GBK Stadium show in Jakarta were treated to a set of new and classic songs from the band’s extensive library.
The crowd was also treated to the clarity of the Clair Brothers i218 speaker system, which was the first choice for sound reinforcement and also happens to be the largest format system available in Indonesia.
Clair Brothers’ audio consultant in the region, Wayne Grosser reports: “The i218 system has been the first choice for touring artists in the GBK Stadium - it’s been a great success for many of the local promotors and production companies. I would particularly like to thank Indonesian production company and Clair Brothers rental partner, Total Audio, and its sound director, Sadat Effendy, along with his team for supplying all the gear well ahead of this scheduled show.”
Several Clair Brothers products were used exclusively for the entire main FOH system. In tandem with the four main hangs with 16 i218-Ms in each, there were 36 iS218-M ground subs, 12 i212-M front fills, plus four delay towers with eight i212-Ms in each tower. All amplifiers were Clair Brothers CB-PLM20K amps. The touring FOH console used was the Yamaha Ravage PM10.
Grosser continues: “FOH engineer Caram Costanzo produced an amazing mix that sounded great throughout the whole stadium. The system engineer for the tour, Josh De Long of Clair Global, and I worked together to ensure we had even sound cover
Switzerland - In the summer of 2019, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne gave new performances of Dixit, the ‘cinema-ballet-theatre’ show written and directed by Marc Hollogne, in tribute to its founder, Maurice Béjart. To take the audience on the choreographer's story and work, the company relied on Modulo Kinetic and its real-time tracking module, KineMotion.
To pay tribute to its creator, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne worked with Marc Hollogne to write and direct Dixit, a show that combines dance, acting and video projection to tell the story of Maurice Béjart's life and work.
To bring this show to life, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne used Modulo Kinetic, Modulo Pi's media server solution, as well as KineMotion, its real-time tracking plug-in.
Lucas Borgeaud, technical director of Béjart Ballet Lausanne, reports: “We had already used video in some of our ballets, but never on this scale. For this show, the video is almost at the same level as the dance. That's a first.”
The show is performed on a 13m stage on which two screens are freely moved by the dancers and actors and tracked in real time. In addition, there are three screens suspended on DMX hoist in the theatre fly loft.
A 30,000-lumen PT-RQ32 video-projector from Panasonic deals with the projection. Media is projected onto a 13m wide by 7m high frame, the projection alternating between the entire frame, the three suspended screens, and the two tracked screens on stage in real time.
Borgeaud explains: "The screens serve as bubbles that help to understand
USA - Patrick Dierson called it “the chandelier”. For the fans who packed Brooklyn’s Barclay Centre on Monday night October 21 for the TIDAL X Rock the Vote Show, it was a massive piece of eye candy that riveted their attention as it glittered over the stage in support of the upbeat music being performed below. Anchoring this stunning centrepiece and endowing it with its distinct vibrancy and colour, were 58 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures supplied by 4Wall Entertainment.
Although the sheer size of this colossus was impressive, its true impact as a design element went far beyond its physical dimensions. “It was one of my favourite looks,” says Dierson, owner of The Activity, who served as production designer for the event. “Sure, it was massive, but that was just the beginning. The chandelier looked great on camera, and it gave us this very powerful element of versatility.”
Hung exclusively on the chandelier, the Maverick MK3 Wash fixtures in Dierson’s rig were trimmed at heights ranging from 52 to 65ft over the stage. From these lofty positions, they created an array of colourful looks and contributed to the overall audience lighting, which played extremely well on camera.
“Even running in one of their basic modes, the Mavericks provided a ton of flexibility and effects when we needed them,” says Dierson. “We used them to create a vast number of different looks - and that’s ultimately what you need when you have 28 artists performing back-to-back.”
As for those artists, they represented a di
UK - Adlib supplied a full production package incorporating lighting, video, sound and rigging for the recent UK leg of comedian Russell Howard’s Respite stand-up tour, performed in-the-round.
The Liverpool UK-based production and rental specialist had previously presented Howard performing in the same format in 2017. Neil McDonald from Clockwork Productions oversaw production and brought Adlib on board, having worked together on many previous projects.
Kumar Kamalagharan was again Howard’s tour manager working closely with on-the-road production manager Andy Grey from Clockwork Productions.
The lighting was designed by Adlib’s Tom Webber, while the kit and logistics were coordinated by Dave Eldridge.
The technical infrastructure included a circular stage that was located centrally in the venue with four trusses just off the stage to fly the LED screens and lighting, plus a hexagonal truss immediately above the stage for all the overhead lighting positions
The four screens around the stage were framed with vertical drop-down trusses each rigged with Martin MAC Auras to light the audience.
Four Robe BMFL FollowSpots were also deployed on these drop-down trusses, operated via a single RoboSpot remote system. Replacing traditional follow spots (located in the usual venue towers and cut outs) brought obvious sightline and labour benefits.
The moving lights were 56 MAC Aura LED washes and 12 MAC Viper Profiles, complemented by 16 Chauvet STRIKE4 LED blinders together with 12 Elation DTW BAR 1000s which were used as footli
UK - Will Young’s new show An Evening with Will Young visited 21 cities around the UK throughout October, with a complete audio infrastructure provided by London-based Capital Sound Hire.
Young released his seventh studio album Lexicon in June of this year, the latest milestone in a career which started with his win in the inaugural series of Pop Idol in 2002. Since then he has won two Brit Awards and achieved global sales in excess of eight million albums, several of which have achieved multi-platinum status in the process. Young is also an author and actor, having appeared in film, in television and on stage.
Shortly after the final date Martin Connolly, senior project manager at Capital remarks: “The Will Young tour has just completed and the Superfly system we supplied was faultless throughout. Will Young proved he is a consummate performer with a show that was uplifting, humorous and exciting with a great punchy band; the entire show looked and sounded wonderful.”
Capital deployed part of their Outline inventory for the tour, consisting of 24 x Outline Superfly 210 line array cabinets, 12 Outline GTO-Subs and six Outline LIPF-082 2-way stage lip-fills. The entire system was powered by Powersoft X8 amps whilst system control was managed by a single Outline Newton FPGA processor.
Their Systems Engineer for the project was Dan Fathers who comments: “The Superfly I found to be a powerful line array for the size of the box, with great clarity and throw in the high end. With a lot of these venues I could also fly th
UK - Situated in London’s Covent Garden, the Grade I listed Royal Opera House (ROH) is one of London’s largest theatres. Housing both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet, the site’s rich history dates back to 1732 when the (then) Theatre Royal was opened.
Earlier this year, prior to staging The Munich Opera’s production of Handel’s opera Agrippina, directed by Barrie Kosky, the ROH received a specific request from lighting designer Benedikt Zhem for the placement of moving head LED units in the front of house. Historically, similar requests for moving heads have created issues in terms of a lack of space, sound control and certain restrictions placed on the auditorium by English Heritage.
In an effort to meet the designer’s wish, the team at the ROH carried out some research into a possible solution and concluded that Elation’s Artiste Picasso product met all the criteria they required. Elation’s UK and ROI distributor Entedi arranged an on-site demonstration, which confirmed that Artiste Picasso met the requirements for power, beam size, beam image and shuttering. Pivotally, the units produce minimal ambient noise, which ultimately enabled them to be hung successfully at Grand Tier level in the auditorium.
The Elation Artiste Picasso units were used to great effect in the production, both near the proscenium on each side, as well as working back into the auditorium. Simon Bennison, lighting manager at the ROH comments: “Being near silent, having consistent beam quality, great output and crisp shuttering, the Artiste Picass
China - Solid German engineering and innovative IP technology are behind the Suzhou Municipal Government’s selection of a Lawo mc²36 mixing desk and three Compact I/O stageboxes for the Suzhou Folk Orchestra’s new concert hall.
The Lawo systems were installed by Chinese partner SWS, who acted as the main contractor for the new facility in Suzhou, close to Shanghai, handling the system integration and infrastructure design.
The choice of the Lawo systems alongside d&b audiotechnik loudspeakers and amplifiers gives the installation a strong German sound, as well as an assurance of quality. It is also the first installation of a Lawo mc²36 audio mixing console in a concert hall in China. The 40-fader, 192-crosspoint and 192-DSP-channel console with three Lawo Compact I/O stageboxes is accompanied by Waves SoundGrid integration.
Lawo has established a very strong reputation among Chinese theatres, beginning in 2006 with systems installed in the National Grand Theatre (China National Centre for Performing Arts), followed later by the Dongguan Theatre, Wuhan Qintai Theatre and several others.
“It is an honour for us to join the Lawo customer theatre community,” commented one of the Suzhou Orchestra concert hall sound engineers.
(Jim Evans)
UK - Nearly 100 Robe LED lighting fixtures - T1 Profiles, Spiider LED wash beams plus Divine 160 RGBW LED floods - are at the heart of the house lighting package at Magazine London - a new event space, located in North Greenwich.
It has been just 300 days since ground was broken in North Greenwich for Venue Lab’s newest venture; Magazine London has now officially opened its doors. This purpose-built destination offers a blank canvas across 3,205sq.m of industrial-style space for up to 3,000 people standing.
The site also features a 7,000-capacity outdoor showground with unbroken views across the river towards Canary Wharf.
Space 1 has an impressive eight-metre-high, floor-to-ceiling glass window and access to a private balcony that allows guests to view the verticality of the Canary Wharf cityscape. This area can be used for a reception, as well as being an attractive space in its own right.
The largest of Magazine’s internal space is Space 2. The interior fit-out comprises over 2,100 OSB boards to bring a warmer wall finish to the warehouse-style design of the building. In total, the project used 13.96 miles of timber, as well as 149,713 screws and 757.5 litres of paint to stain the venue in a specific shade of black; RAL9005.
This black palette is also mirrored in the venue’s polished concrete floor, steel skeleton, production trusses and even the outdoor limestone patio to achieve a unified finish. Space 2 can accommodate 3,000 standing, 2,000 seated for a conference or 1,400 for a large-scale dinner.
Technical Consulta
Italy - The 85th anniversary of the world seaplane speed record set in 1934 at Desenzano seaplane base by Marshal Agello was commemorated on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October in Desenzano del Garda, in the province of Brescia. His record stands at 709.202 km/h and has never been broken to this day.
A series of air show stunts were performed for this celebration, which attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators, culminating in a display put on by the Frecce Tricolori, the Italian air force stunt team.
Claypaky also took part in the event with a light installation set up on the terrace of the Hotel Estée in Desenzano, which could be seen on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
The installation consisted of 10 Xtylos units. Nine projected a very long Italian tricolour flag onto Lake Garda like the trails of coloured smoke from the MB-339 aircraft of the Italian air force stunt team, and the other solo light projected a beam for one minute every half hour of the same colour orange as the MC 72 seaplane used by Marshal Agello to set his record.
(Jim Evans)
USA - Marking the popular event’s 15th anniversary, this year’s Riot Fest was successfully reinforced by Technotrix with Martin Audio MLA, WPL and WPC line arrays on four stages in Chicago’s Douglas Park.
With a variety of high-powered artists ranging from Slayer, Anthrax, The Flaming Lips, Violent Femmes and Bikini Kill to The Raconteurs, Patti Smith, Wu Tang Clan and the Village People, Riot Fest offered some particular challenges in terms of controlled coverage on site and noise mitigation off site.
As Technotrix Audio lead, Brent Bernhardt, points out, “As always, there’s a commitment to keeping off site noise to an absolute minimum. We’re still avoiding the same two hospitals behind and alongside Stages 1 and 2, along with neighbourhoods around the festival.”
Asked about using Martin Audio’s Wavefront Precision Longbow (WPL) system for the first time, Brent responds, “It was very impressive to have virtually the same amount of control we get from an MLA rig with only slightly less resolution. WPL was very good and the tonality wasn’t lacking either, while the onsite coverage was uniform and consistent as well.
“On site coverage for Stages 1 and 2 is always a challenge as they fire into the rear of 4 and 5,” Brent continues, “especially this year because of gusty wind conditions on the first day of the festival. We’ve never used delays with MLA because it throws further than any other PA, even under adverse weather conditions.
“WPL was able to provide exceptional sound quality and tonal characteristics
UK - A lot has happened in Maggie Rogers’ world since 2016, when a video of her demoing a then-newly-recorded song, Alaska for Pharrell Williams at NYU went viral. Following opening slots on major tours with both HAIM and Mumford & Sons last year, Rogers dropped her own major label debut, Heard It in a Past Life, this past January, which charted in the second highest slot of the Billboard 200. Consequently, the artist has spent much of 2019 on the road in support of the album.
The “look and feel” of Rogers’ tour this year has been a collaborative effort between the artist and lighting designer Ben Everett, who first started working with her when he lit Rogers’ first-ever show in London two years ago. Having toured with an impressive roster of bands over the past five years, Everett is now part of the UK-based MIRRAD team, which has been supplying a pair of Avolites Sapphire Touch lighting control consoles for Rogers’ 2019 worldwide trek.
While on tour with Rogers, Everett sits behind Avolites’ flagship Sapphire Touch, with a twin second console used by Bodie Tureson or Chas O'Bradovich, his techs, for the show’s opening acts (Empress of, Jacob Banks, Melanie Faye, or Now, Now), and as an immediately-available backup desk, should the need ever arise.
“I have used these consoles with many different types of artists and shows, and I can set them up in a way each time that works exactly as I need them to for that show,” he says of his Sapphire Touch. “Essentially, I just really enjoy working on this console.”
Poland - The Polish state folk group of song and dance, Mazowsze, is named after the country’s Mazowsze region.
In 2018 it became even better known after featuring in Paweł Pawlikowski’s movie Cold War - and just before that, it invested in some of Robe’s large Tarrantula LED wash beams, which met a tender specification that was initiated by technical manager and lighting designer, Lukas Rúzewilz.
Their impressive rehearsal and performance facility on the outskirts of Warsaw has been open since 2009, and Lukas has worked there for a year, before which he was the technical manager of the Dramatic Theatre in Warsaw, another cultural landmark.
Mazowsze’s 600-capacity venue is funded by the government and, in addition to being home to the company, it stages several other dance, music, theatre, comedy and ballet shows, amounting to around 250 a year. All Mazowsze’s own touring shows are produced there before going on the road.
When Lukas joined the production and technical team a year ago, the venue’s existing moving light rig was 10 years old and in need of an upgrade, so he started the ball rolling on this process.
A tender for new moving lights was offered to selected companies, and the section to provide LED wash lights was won by Robe’s Polish distributor Prolight with the Tarrantulas, which met the spec nicely.
Prolight supplied 24 Tarrantulas as part of the new package, on which Lukas commented: “They have everything you want in a lamp and are extremely powerful and strong.”
He lights all the pro
UK - The latest season of Strictly Come Dancing, the celebrity dance show, kicked off in September with a new performer, the VL1100 LED from Vari-Lite. David Bishop, in his new role as the show’s lighting designer, sees the introduction of the VL1100 LED as a significant improvement for the Strictly lighting rig.
“I chose the VL1100 LED as an upgrade to a fixture we already knew worked well in our show environment,” said Bishop. “The original VL1000 had served the program well for many years, but the VL1100 LED’s extra output, combined with removing the vulnerability of the traditional bulb, made this new fixture an obvious choice.”
The reliability of the LED source, combined with the VL1100 LED’s framing capability, high output and consistent colour temperature, help Bishop to maintain the quality of image that viewers expect. “Whilst Strictly is a dance show, it’s also a celebrity show, and our viewers expect to see their favorite stars looking as they do on the pages of magazines. Well-controlled keylight, at the correct angle for each shot, is very important.”
Bishop is using 25 VL1100 LED fixtures in his design, providing a mixture of front-light and cross-light. As the season continues, they have more than justified his faith in the brand. “It’s everything I hoped for,” he said. “The output is much greater than the VL1000 ever delivered, and you’d never know the source wasn’t a tungsten bulb.”
The 17th season of Strictly Come Dancing runs until the grand final on 14 December.
Australia - Further evidence of the growing multi-dimensionality of art can be found at the 24th edition of the Communicating the Arts conference which, for the first time, sees participants from the performing arts join those from the visual arts. The theme of this edition is Cultural Leadership.
“An example of great leadership is when in the face of challenges, people can stick to the values of inclusion, rigour, honesty, respect and courage.” This is an example of what the participants will learn from attending as explained by Wesley Enoch, artistic director at Sydney Festival who will also hold the opening keynote.
Taking place at multiple cultural venues in Sydney from 12-14 November, some 250 Australian and international cultural leaders, senior arts professionals and innovators will gather for three days of immersive learning, masterclasses and exhibits - including Anthony Bastic, founder and CEO of Sydney-based creators, AGB Events, who will be talking about his company’s experience in curating and producing major celebrations.
“Our approach is to re-imagine ways to honour art, history, and culture,” explains Bastic, “inspiring audiences with deeply engaging story-telling. Our process begins with extensive research to bring a fresh perspective to our projects, finding our clients’ stories and reinterpreting those narratives visually. We work extensively with renowned artists to craft and deliver creative concepts that resonate deeply and that give their work new dimensions and scope, using digital animation and 3D projec
Belgium - Although the Fantasia festival succeeds in attracting some of the hottest EDM and trance DJs year after year, it’s built a loyal fan base with much more than music alone. Drawing on the power of its wildly imaginative and elaborate stage scenery, Fantasia succeeds in cocooning festival-goers in a multi-sensory experience that intensifies the power of its electronic music.
Forming the central visual backdrop to this year’s stage was a representation of an exotic burlesque palace measuring 15m tall by 45m wide. Providing dramatic visuals to accentuate the mystique of the stage was a lighting design by Creative Rental Solutions (CRS) that included a collection of Chauvet Professional Rogue R2 Wash, RH1 Hybrid, COLORdash Par H12IP, STRIKE P38, and COLORado Panel Q40 fixtures.
“Given the ambition of Fantasia’s organisers to create ever more impressive stages, we went back to the drawing board to come up with something especially different this year,” says Thomas Vandekerkhove of Creative Rental Solutions. “Our solution was to develop a lighting rig that awarded a certain mystique to this year’s stage theme by creating powerful looks and vivid colours.”
To douse the palatial stage designed by CRS’s Lieven Tacq (complete with three large burlesque masks) with a variety of pulsating atmospherics, Vandekerkhove and his team incorporated a carefully curated combination of 18 Rogue R2 Wash, 18 RH1 Hybrid and 28 COLORdash Par H12IP fixtures into their design. The resultant blend of saturated colours and powerful wash effects gave a