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Japan - The New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) is one of the world's finest art theatres which opened in October 1997 as a complex of theatres dedicated to the performing arts of opera, ballet, dance and drama. NNTT has three theatres; The Opera House, The Playhouse, and The Pit. Each is equipped with facilities of the latest technologies and designed to accommodate diverse requirements from productions to be performed every night.

The Opera House, also known with a nickname Opera Palace, is Japan's one and only theatre built specifically to stage opera and ballet productions. It is a proscenium arch theatre and has four stage areas: the main stage visible to the audience, a rear stage, and left and right wings, all in the same size. The stage lighting facilities include portabl

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UK - Avolites has powered lighting for a one-off star-studded concert at the official switch-on of Oxford Street's Christmas lights, where charity partner for the 2016 display the NSPCC hosted a 'Children's VIP day' to celebrate the launch of its festive fundraising campaign - Little Stars.

Oxford Street was completely closed to traffic between 9:30am and 8:30pm for the well-attended event, produced by London-based production company Wilde Ones. Pop rockers The Vamps and X Factor 2015-winner Louisa Johnson took to the stage, with lighting designer Paul de Villiers choosing an Avolites Titan Mobile and Titan Mobile Wing to control his super bright and twinkly design.

"The Titan Mobile is ideal for this type of pop-up event; it's easy to fit into a tight control area and lightweight enough to able to move it around whenever needed," says de Villiers, who has also worked for

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World - As the LSi office closes for the Christmas break, we would like to wish all our readers a very special holiday and a happy and prosperous 2017. We'll be back with more daily news here at LSIOnline in the New Year, kicking off on 3 January. Until then, have a great time - and thanks for reading . . .

The LSi team.

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Indochine X PixMob Fan Immersion

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's - 40 thousand LED pixels on a ceiling!!! Indochine's whirlwind tour transports fans to another level of the live experience - immersing them from floor to ceiling with PixMob's X4 wristbands, and an LED ceiling made entirely of its NOVA Minis! With the vision of Indochine's creative team, PixMob used its LED fan-technology to turn attendees and venues into an ocean of effects, and a starry sky of LED magic. Très très cool!

Read more about the Indochine tour in the latest issue of LSi

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USA EAW has announced the addition of Paul Lamarre to the growing sales team. Lamarre is tasked with managing sales and support for future and existing customers in the Southern US. The announcement was made by James Newhouse, North American director of sales for EAW.

"Adding Paul to the team furthers our commitment to interacting directly with our dealers," explains Newhouse. "He joins a team of individuals that are responsible for not only expanding sales and the reach of the EAW brand, but also continuing our efforts to work with each dealer directly to ensure that they receive the support to service their projects."

Prior to joining EAW, Lamarre was regional sales manager for EDA Pro AV, based in Duluth, Georgia and served as general manager of Sam Ash Music in the greater Nashville area. Lamarre also served the US Army for nine years prior to beginning his career in p

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UK - Flightcase hardware and 19 inch racking manufacturer Penn Elcom has introduced the FT80-Q - quiet - cooling unit for active heat management in cupboards, closets and other enclosed environments.

The new exhaust fan product has been developed by Penn's R&D team for fitting into sealed enclosures housing 19-inch racking systems, servers, etc, where hot air is not being expelled. These type of enclosures have a high risk of thermal / component failure as the inbuilt fans only re-cycle hot air, so additional cooling is essential for the well-being of the equipment.

The FT80-Q has been designed to efficiently extract air for rack cooling in these situations.

The product comes with a drill template to allow easy installation, creating an extraction hole and then fitting a cover to keep the overall cabinet / rack enclosure looking smart and streamlined. Its fan has numer

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UK - Knight of Illumination Award-winning lighting designer Tom Campbell has used a predominantly Claypaky rig in his recent redesign of Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for my Valentine's (BFMV) latest tour.

Taking over from the band's previous lighting designer in July 2016, Campbell refreshed the rig with a selection of innovative moving head fixtures from the Italian manufacturer.

"I took over after the tour had completed its American leg," says Campbell. "We launched the new design in Germany in front of 6000 people at the Rock am Ring festival on a reduced rig, then expanded it in October when we went into the full production headline shows.

"The new production is a combination of classic rock n' roll stage design with a modern twist. Part of creating this concept is in the stage design itself where we have a collection of old guitar cabinets with PAR Cans wired in.

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- Australian pop innovator Sia set numerous attendance records on her Nostalgic for the Present Tour, which crisscrossed North America during the fall of 2016 in promotion of her latest chart-topper, This Is Acting. The artist is continually redefining performance art and relied heavily on a full complement of Adamson E-Series loudspeakers to do so on her most recent run.

FOH engineer Jon Lemon was given direct instructions from the artist to "make it sound like the record". He subsequently received the original mix sessions and holed up in a rehearsal room with playback engineer Marco Gamboa to build and convert the studio material for the live arena. In all, it was an intensive and lengthy process, but fortunately, choosing a PA to faithfully reproduce those sounds was anything but.

"I wanted to use Adamson from the get go," Lemon asserts. "The fidelit

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World - Lighting designer Tom Campbell has selected an Avolites Tiger Touch II and backup Quartz to control his lighting design for metal-core band Bullet for my Valentine (BFMV) on their recent worldwide tour in support of their 2015 album Venom.

Last year the popular quartet returned with a show-stopper of a tour, studiously lit, designed and controlled by Campbell who counts Anna Calvi for which he won a Knight Of Illumination Award in 2015, Katy B, Leon Bridges and John Grant in his resume.

"BFMV knew what they wanted from this tour and more importantly what they didn't want," says Campbell, who cites talks over sushi with the band and international skype as the birthplaces of the show's design zeitgeist. "Through these conversations, it became obvious the feel for the show was a big 'classic' rock gig with a modern twist. We wanted to use cutting-edge fixtures

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USA - Tir Na Nog is a supernatural realm of everlasting youth and beauty in Irish mythology - and a killer Irish pub in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Tir Na Nog recently opened a second location across from Madison Square Garden (the pub, not the supernatural realm), and NYC's Starview Satellite provided it with a sound system for games, background music, and video DJ sets as part of a complete renovation.

Integral to the design are two Ashly KLR-4000 amplifiers and four Ashly KLR-2000 amplifiers, which give Tir Na Nog the kick it requires - and on a tight budget.

"Starview came to a point early in the process of designing Tir Na Nog's system where the budget constraints threatened to compromise the integrity of the design," explained Rich Trombitas, regional sales & product manager with A/V manufacturers rep firm Cardone, Solomon & Associates (CS&A). "They really coul

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USA - Electric violinist and member of the original Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mark Wood began his holiday concert at the Denny Sanford Arena in Sioux Falls, SD with a stirring message for the 12,000 people in attendance.

"We're going to burn up tonight," said the virtuoso musician and Emmy Award-winning composer. "We're here to celebrate the wonderment of music making. We're inspiring these amazing kids and we're inspiring the future."

The "amazing kids" that Wood referred to were local music students who joined him and his band on stage for an exhilarating concert that blended new twists on holiday classics with electrified orchestral versions of rock standards like The Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want and Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven. Matching the spirited music note-for-passionate-note was a big, bright and intense lightshow designed

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USA - One of Milwaukee's most famous buildings got a face-lift with a new lighting refit and smart control, responsive to the weather conditions - the iconic gas flame, that was added in 1956, indicates the weather forecast by its colour and flicker. This weather beacon was turned off in 1973 because of that year's energy crisis, but turned back on in 1985 - it has now been updated with an LED system that lights up the entire building. MainStage, a US-based theatrical supplier and integrator, was responsible for this project.

The original neon lighting inside the iconic Flame sculpture was replaced with all-new LED new lighting fixtures consisting of 36 - Color Kinetics ColorGraze MX4 fixtures. In addition to the flame centrepiece, over 150 Chauvet Colorado fixtures were used provide coloured accent lighting for the main building structure.

The majority of control distribu

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UK -The lighting designers of music superstars Jason Derulo, Dizzee Rascal and Chase and Status requested Claypaky Sharpys and A.leda B-EYE K10s as key fixtures in their touring rigs at UK urban music festival Sundown.

Responsible for the mainstage festival rig was Mick Freer, head of concert touring at award-winning production and hire outfit Hawthorn that provided the lighting, rigging, drapes, FOH control systems and followspots for Sundown's mainstage.

"Jason Derulo's lighting designer, Bobby Bascombe, specified the 24 x Claypaky A.leda B-EYE K10s for the flown rig, and 26 x Claypaky Sharpys in vector mode for the floor package," says Freer. "Claypaky Sharpys were also requested by Steve Bewley, lighting designer for Dizzee Rascal, and Chase and Status' LD, Andy Hurst."

Freer consulted Bascombe, Bewley, Hurst and the other visiting designers in the months leading t

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USA - Not much has changed at the Mesa Amphitheatre since it opened in 1979, and music fans in the Phoenix area couldn't be happier. An attractive open air facility where no seat is further than 175ft from the stage, the 4,200 capacity venue offers a cozy environment for enjoying national acts. Yet, while it's a delight for fans, the relatively small and aging facility can create issues for anyone looking to replicate a modern arena light show.

John Garberson and his team from Creative BackStage faced this challenge earlier in December when they were asked to put together a rig at the amphitheatre for a performance by Kings of Leon at a local radio station's Ugly Christmas Sweater Party concert.

Garberson and company were up to the task, providing the band's lighting designer Sam MacLaren with a mix of fixtures that could create a show that remained true to his big venue d

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Australia - After a record-breaking premiere at the Sydney Opera House, the recreation of the 1956 Broadway production of My Fair Lady travels to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney's Capitol Theatre in 2017.

In honour of My Fair Lady's Rather than try to recreate the original audio design, Michael Waters was appointed to give it a welcome 21st century makeover with JPJ Audio's assistance.

"We did see the original audio spec for the 1956 production which was only one page," said Michael. "The sound pre-show check was 'turn on an amplifier, have the reel to reel wound

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USA - Kramer Electronics has announced the acquisition of iRule, LLC. In 2014, Kramer announced a partnership with iRule to deliver "the ultimate control and automation technology" - Kramer Control. This acquisition will enable Kramer to leverage the award-winning and highly customizable iRule software platform to best address a growing demand for advanced control and automation solutions.

The Kramer Control platform enables integrators to deliver control of lighting, HVAC, communications, A/V and more - along with seamless worldwide connectivity, a critical asset in commercial control and automation markets, such as corporate environments, houses of worship, higher education, bars/restaurants and other

The platform's combination of software, hardware and cloud is the result of years of research and development, an effort that received funding from the prestigious Israel-U

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UK - Popular musical Dirty Dancing returned to London's West End in December playing the Phoenix Theatre following a regional UK tour with a lively production that originally premiered in Italy in 2015 where it played Milan and Rome. This production has also toured in Spain and Mexico with additional troupes.

Lighting has been created by leading Italian LD Valerio Tibeiri who seized the opportunity in London to upgrade the original lighting rig and use nearly 70 x Robe moving lights - a combination of BMFL Blades and LEDBeam 1000s - as the primary luminaires.

Written by Eleanor Bergstein the production is directed by Federico Bellone with a set design by Roberto Comotti, both of whom Valerio has worked with on many previous projects. He was delighted to be involved again on this one which is choreographed by Gillian Bruce. Costume design is by Jennifer Irwin, the so

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Kazakhstan -The new additions to the innovative Claypaky range of entertainment lighting, the Scenius Profile and Scenius Spot, have made their Kazakhstan debut, joining almost 200 other Claypaky luminaires to deliver stunning lighting looks for Kazakh pop sensation Madina Saduakasova's recent concert in the Palace of the Republic, Almaty.

Lighting designer Oleksandr Manzenko of Ukraine-based design house Ilumo is no stranger to Claypaky's creative tools, commenting, "On every project I do, Claypaky equipment makes up more than 50 percent of my lighting rider. The speed at which you can switch between parameters as well as the infinite possibilities provided by the properly-fitted gobos and effects engines mean they never fail to help turn my creative ideas into a reality."

For Marina Saduakasova, Manzenko chose 24 x Scenius Spot and eight Scenius Profile luminaires alongs

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Happy New Year - Our normal daily news service will now resume after the Christmas break and we'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all good things for 2017!

Northern Culture - A musical, Humber Bridge, a 14th-Century masterpiece, a circus in a cemetery and the Spiders From Mars will be part of Hull's year as UK City of Culture. The £32m programme will take over streets and venues throughout 2017. Hull will celebrate famous local figures including poet Philip Larkin and director Anthony Minghella. And it will put the spotlight on unsung heroines like 1940s and '50s boxing champion "Battling" Barbara Buttrick and pioneering musician Ethel Leginska.

Hull 2017 director Martin Green said, "Women's stories come through. It has traditionally been a male-dominated city, quite patriarchal. But we have found at every turn new stories about women." Hull C

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USA - Sensaphonics has announced the hiring of Dr. Jenna Paley to promote hearing wellness and business development. Paley received her doctorate in audiology from Indiana University, and is founder of Project Decibel, an organization dedicated to educating musicians and others on how to protect their hearing health while still enjoying loud sound on stage, in the audience, or anywhere in their lives.

"Hearing wellness is something I'm very passionate about, which is a perfect match with Sensaphonics," she says. "When we spoke about the best ways to work together on our common goals, it was clear that joining forces was the solution. Working with a company that shares my commitment to hearing health is a dream come true for me."

At Sensaphonics, Paley will bring her own perspective and expertise to the company's ongoing mission to help musicians maintain their hearing well

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USA - With ISE 2017 quickly approaching, Atlona has announced the public debut of the AT-UHD-CLSO-840, a versatile eight-input, four-output 4K HDMI and HDBaseT matrix switcher built for videoconferencing, multi-screen presentations, and divisible room installations.

he CLSO-840 offers both local and remote inputs and outputs for flexibility across AV formats and connectivity options, providing a powerful matrix solution for classroom, corporate, and hospitality environments. The matrix switcher will be demonstrated at Stand 5-S92 from February 7-10 at the RAI Exhibition and Conference Centre in Amsterdam.

The new matrix is equipped with five HDMI and three HDBaseT inputs, two HDMI outputs, and two HDBaseT outputs. It is envisioned for use in a variety of meeting room settings, such as videoconferencing suites requiring at least three independent outputs for connections to

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Europe - From the beginning of 2017, Swiss electric chain hoist manufacturer GIS AG is replacing its LCH series with the LP series, offering entertainment rigging professionals a lifting solution tailored to their sector.

The LP series includes the much anticipated and innovative LP500 with up to 60% greater lifting capacity, IP65 as standard and very quiet running at a maximum 65 dB - a key feature for the theatre and live events marketplace.

The specific requirements of the entertainment industry, such as increased capacity in one fall operation, low dead weight, low noise emission and suitability for outdoor use, have been given priority throughout the design and manufacture of the LP500 concept.

LP500 has a robust construction, is simple in its assembly and does not contain any sensitive electronics. All shaft-hub connections are built in a self-centring polygonal

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