Israel - Lighting designer Ronen Najar is utilising the easy to control beam of Clay Paky's Sharpy Wash 330s to complement the huge video wall used on Israel's interactive singing contest Rising Star.

Contestants on the show - which is a ratings winner in Israel - perform to a blank 16 x 3.5m projection screen, which forms a barrier between them and the studio audience and judges. During their performing, the singers can see live images of the at-home audience, who vote on each performance, in real-time, via a smartphone app.

"Because of the interactive element we wanted to ensure that the audiences at home felt included in the program's live visibility though a variety of lighting effects, all of which were achieved with the extremely versatile Sharpy Wash 330s," explains Najar.

"The stage is only 24 x 14m and with LED fixtures there was risk of spill

UK - Singer/songwriter Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls checked into production rehearsal arena complex LS-Live ahead of their Tape Deck Heart Tour to prepare for six UK shows.

It was Turner's first visit to the studios in Wakefield, where his crew test-built the production and he rehearsed his performance in the 17,664 sq ft space, during the three days prior to the first gig at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on 6 February.

The crew made use of the en-suite bedrooms so they had easy access on site and hired the production offices, catering area and additional facilities.

The LS-Live rehearsal arena has had a busy start to the year, welcoming the X Factor Live tour rehearsals once again, where last year's contestants had one of their first experiences of professional touring.

Sofa manufacturer Sofas & Stuff also took up residency in the rehearsal arena

UK - Legendary country-rock guitarist Albert Lee is celebrating his 70th birthday with two high profile concerts at London's Cadogan Hall. The events on 1 and 2 March will see Albert and his US band perform with a number of acclaimed guest musicians all brought to life by KV2 Audio loudspeaker systems.

Concert producer David Mann undertook several visits to Cadogan Hall and decided against using the in-house system, feeling that KV2 Audio's True Point Source approach to system design would be a better solution for the event and deal with the halls reverberant nature. Discussions with representatives of KV2 Audio Europe Ltd. led to one of KV2's "Very High Definition" VHD Systems being specified.

The VHD System is built around the VHD 2.0 Mid/High unit featuring a revolutionary large format 3" compression driver, two 8" transcoil mid-range drivers and two 12&

UK - DB Audio, have invested in a pair of Midas PRO6 digital consoles for front-of-house and monitor duties at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Supplied by LMC Audio, the consoles were recently deployed for the first of Prince's 'secret' gigs, held at the historic live music venue.

Richard Waterhouse, who owns and runs DB Audio in partnership with his brother, Steve Waterhouse, comments, "Our primary concern in running the house system at the Electric Ballroom has always been to achieve the best quality of sound we can. This aim, coupled with using only top quality experienced engineers, means that for visiting artists, engineers and promoters we regularly exceed their expectations of the venue."

As touring engineers have brought their systems into the Electric Ballroom to link-up with the venue's Martin Audio Wavefront rig, DB Audio have gained valuable hands-on exp

Russia - Entertaining audiences worldwide, the global Nitro Circus Live tour stopped in Russia and had the hearts of extreme sports fans racing both in Moscow and in Saint Petersburg. The stars of Nitro Circus Live put on an inspiring show for the Russian spectators, with bright effects from Martin MAC III AirFX, provided by the rental company Euroshow, adding something extra for the spectacular performances full of power, energy and adrenaline.

Professional action sports athlete Travis Pastrana founded Nitro Circus in 2009 in an attempt to unite the most fearless extreme athletes in the world. The original Nitro Circus show consisted of a variety of tricks on motocross bikes, roller skates, scooters and other vehicles like cars for dolls, toy tricycles, boogie boards for surfing, tandem scooters and many more. Some of the tricks have already achieved world record status, includ

UK - Eclipse Presentations has added the busy Hilton London Wembley hotel to its list of high profile serviced venues in the UK capital.

The Kent based event specialist will have a sales manager based on site and will co-ordinate all technical and creative production elements for the various functions, conferences, events, shows and meetings taking place at the property, a brand new build landmark property completed and opened in 2012 right next door to London's Wembley Stadium.

Eclipse's brief includes the provision of lighting, sound, video, AV and rigging equipment, plus sets / staging and specialist crew. Eclipse also offers a whole range of additional related services like videoconferencing, video content creation, widescreen projection mapping and interactive events, all of which are available at Hilton London Wembley through a single point-of-contact.

Eclipse was chos

UK - Blackout created a bespoke fabric backdrop for Beyonce as she performed a glittering rendition of her latest single XO for the Brit Awards 2014 at London's O2.

The drapes and rigging specialists, led by project director Kevin Monks, collaborated with Brits TV and Beyonce's production team to install an 8m wide by 12m fine gauze high speed roller screen which became the centre piece of the star's simple yet glamorous performance.

In collaboration with set company, Steel Monkey, the team installed three steel boxes upstage of the screen, clad with multiple layers of white voile to create a series of projection surfaces for XL video to display creative content. At the opening of the performance, Beyonce stood between the fine gauze and a giant close up of her face was projected live onto the screen, appearing to the audience as if suspended in mid-air.

As the star b

UK - Chauvet Professional has announced it has become Corporate Supporter of the Theatres Trust. Chauvet Professional will also provide further support to the Trust as sponsor of the delegate lunch at this year's Theatre Trust Conference, scheduled for 28 April, at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds.

The Theatres Trust is the National Advisory Body for Theatres, protecting theatres for everyone. Operating nationally in England, Scotland and Wales, the Trust promotes the value of theatre buildings and champions their future.

General manager Michael Brooksbank commented, "As a manufacturer, we feel honoured to play a role. Theatre is the backbone of the entertainment technology industry and a natural symbiosis already exists. Having come to understand in greater detail and recognise the work of the Trust, allegiance and community support became a natural next step for C

Brazil - Young Brazilian sertanejo rhythm singer Lucas Ferreira staged a huge show in Lençóis Paulista in the outskirts of São Paulo - his birthplace - to film his first ever DVD. The venue was in a disused warehouse in the industrial district of the city.

An eye-catching lighting scheme was created by LD Leonardo Oliveira using 50 x Robe Robin Pointes and 40 x Robe Robin LEDWash 600s.

Leonardo had full creative freedom for the shoot, and adapted his lighting ideas and style to suit a large industrial venue.

He was asked onboard as LD by musical producer Ivan Miyazato, and rental company Showdesign from São Paulo provided all the rental services, set up and support.

Three trusses above the stage were each rigged with eight Pointes and seven LEDWash 600s, and for backlight from the sides, five LEDWashes were rigged in two special left-and-right structures.

The other n

Germany - Le Maitre has been asked to provide the pyrotechnics as well as flame effects for this year's PRG Festhalle exhibit at Prolight & Sound. Live shows will take place 18 times a day over the course of the four day exhibition with free entry for all visitors.

The Festhalle, the main hall at the Frankfurt show, occupies over 32,000sq.ft and will be the home for PRG over the course of the four-day show. Visitors will be able to watch a spectacular live event production where they can experience PRG's integration of complex systems using state of the art light, sound and video technology. Attendees can also go on "behind the scene" tours to learn more about the services and market sectors that PRG serves.

Le Maitre will be providing over 2000 pyro products in the form of 1x35ft Gerbs and 30' Gold Glitter Mines, as well as their CometFlames for the 60 shows. Elemen

Russia - The closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics wrapped up the most expensive games yet with an exquisite cocktail of Russian music, ballet, art, design and literature - plus a witty and inspired sprinkling of self-deprecation. Much of the action took place amongst a dynamic forest of light, which was created and built by set and stage designer, Tait Technologies, and programmed by creative UK collective, Immersive.

Throughout, the Forest of Light provided the stage architecture that gave scale and perspective for much of the action that unfolded on the huge Fisht Stadium floor. It also provided the perfect TV-picture framing vehicle for the stunning aerial and stadium TV pictures, broadcast worldwide on 23rd February 2014.

The impressive Olympics Closing Ceremony design was by Danielle Finzi Pasca. The Forest of Light comprised a custom LED product, de

UK - The International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference 2014 formally opened bookings for the June event this week.

ITEAC 2014: The Future of Performance Spaces - The People, The Places, The Technologies, has recorded its highest pre-registered delegate interest in the Conference's history and has been inundated with ideas for papers & content from those interested in contributing from around the world.

The opening delegate rate has been held at 2010 prices for those registering early for ITEAC 2014. Further discounts are available to members of OISTAT (International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians), the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) membership and members of its Partner Organisations.

Developing themes for the fourth three-day quadrennial conference, being held at the University of London's Senate H

UK - Blackburn-based lighting and visuals rental company HSL supplied lighting and a new LED product to the highly acclaimed and much anticipated first full production tour by trip hop trio London Grammar.

On the tour, HSL supplied a new GoldPix 77 LED surface. This is a 500 X 500 mm panel populated with 7 x 7 warm white LEDs with very narrow beam optics, which is incredibly light, robustly built and ideal for touring and making a high visual impact.

The tour's stylish and off-beat visual design was created by Steve Bewley, who rose to the challenge of producing a scalable and flexible rig that would look good wherever they played. The heterogeneity of venues on the tour included some more unusual places and spaces, and all the kit also had to fit into one 26 tonne truck.

Bewley, well known for his innovative work with Enter Shikari, Shikari Sound System, & Dizzee Rascal sta

UK - Artichoke reports that an artwork commissioned for the Lumiere light festival in Durham 2011 has found a permanent home in the city.

Helvetictoc by Swiss web designer Tobie Langel, will be installed in Durham this week. The work, which describes the approximate time in words, will be projected onto the wall of the Clayport Library in Millennium Square.

The piece is an affectionate tribute to both an iconic typeface and to the nation of clockmakers from where it came. The artwork's witty use of language recalls the era before smartphones and the almost forgotten act of asking someone for the time.

Helvetictoc originated as a small web application combining a number of Langel's interests: typography, minimalism, randomness, humanisation of digital user interfaces and the perception of time.

Langel's app was spotted online by Artichoke, who saw its possibil

India - Delhi's famous Stellar Gymkhana Club used an Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital mixer for its prestigious Jashan-e Diwali event. The exclusive members-only club hosted a glittering banquet, and the mixer, supplied by local rental company, Thukral Productions, managed entertainment from several renowned folk musicians.

"The GLD-80 is a great audio experience at a simple price. The labelling is clear, the fader banks make sense, the control strip across the top is laid out well, and the surface is uncluttered. And the presence of a Select button that opens its accompanied window in the Touchscreen makes it very easy to handle. The design team even placed the Copy/Paste function buttons right at the front of the mixer, so there's no need to scroll through windows, you can just do it on the fly," explains product specialist, Shailesh Awasthi, from A&H distributor, SunInf

Turkey - The power of over 200 Clay Paky fixtures was employed to light the first-ever Turkvision Song Contest 2013 in an impressive lighting display that has been dubbed the 'temple of light'.

Turkish production house Phantom Event Engineering (Phantom) worked with lighting designer Eran Klein from Cochavi & Klein Light Architect on the show's impressive lighting solution. The team specified the 48 x Clay Paky Alpha Wash 1500s, 30 x Alpha Spot HPE 1200s, 80 x Sharpys, 36 x A.leda Wash K5s and 24 x A.leda Wash K10s to 'build' the empyrean set.

"We had to use light as a structure," explains Klein, "The show is a multi-national televised event and we wanted to find an abstract way to symbolise togetherness so we created the on-stage 'temple of light'."

To create a powerful and punchy colour scheme Klein and his team utilised the Clay Paky fixtures in a laye

USA - Packed seminars, busy booths and new product launches confirmed PLASA Focus: Nashville 2014 as an unmissable industry event. Almost 800 attendees headed to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium last week to see over 60 brands that had the latest technology on display.

The show saw a number of new products, including Martin Professional's MAC Quantum Wash; ETC's Source Four Mini spotlight and Selador Desire D22 LED luminaire; Chauvet Professional's Nexus 2x2 and Nexus 4x1; High End System's Hog 4 and HedgeHog 4; Lyntec's award-winning Remote Power Control Mobile; Ayrton's MagicPanel 602 LED beam projector fixtures; Altman Lighting's Phoenix LED Profile; LSC Lighting System's Clarity LX consoles; and the latest additions to Robe Lighting's ROBIN Series.

The Professional Development Programme was a big hit, packing out rooms to see names such as renowned lighting designer Seth

USA - Would you like to earn recognition for your expertise as an entertainment rigger or electrician and become one of the first people to get the call? Get your application in today to take the ETCP Paper and Pencil Examinations at USITT in Ft. Worth!

Having ETCP Certification demonstrates that you are in the top third of the industry professionals in North America; furthermore, to maintain your certification, you must accrue continuing education credits which shows your employer that you are current with industry developments and practices.

The ETCP Examinations will be given at USITT in Ft. Worth. All three ETCP examinations will be given in one session the morning of Saturday, 29 March, 2014. Candidates who wish to take more than one exam should contact ETCP. Members and employees of members of USITT receive a $100 discount on examination fees. Interested applicants must

UK - London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) staged Harold Pinter's Betrayal and Cole Porter's High Society at the end of 2013 utilising the strong colours and smooth dimming of Philips Selecon's PL range of LED fixtures.

RADA runs a four-term specialist course in Stage Electrics and Lighting Design as well as a two-year foundation degree in Technical Theatre and Stage Management, which allows students to specialise in lighting in their final year.

Two of RADA's specialist lighting design students worked on each of the productions: Amy Mae for Betrayal at RADA's GBS Theatre; and Matt Leventhall for High Society at RADA's Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.

RADA's head of lighting Matt Prentice consulted with Selecon to specify a mixture of PLprofile1s, PLfresnel1s, and PLcyc1s to the drama school, which is generally regarded as one of the most prestig

UK - To set the scene for Valentine's Day and to launch the duo of Durex Embrace sensual pleasure gels Will Glendinning from Allium, a high profile live event company, approached PRG to provide a lighting solution. PRG provided the lighting equipment and crew to lighting designer, Durham Marenghi's specification to stage a spectacular light show on London's Southbank on the evening of 13 February, at the Observation Point near the OXO Tower.

Lighting tests were carried out on the fixtures at PRG's East Molesey warehouse in South West London to gauge the length of the beams in the night sky and to see what visual effects could be used on the evening. The show was then pre-programmed for the launch by Pryderi Baskerville in conjunction with Durham Marenghi using WYSIWYG software.

Seventy-six Clay Paky Sharpy Beam lights were used and rigged on two circular trusses, the inner cir

Mexico - High End Systems and Grace Audio have announced a new partnership that will enable Grace Audio, Inc. to serve as its new master distributor for LATAM (except Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela) effective 1 January, 2014.

The LATAM partnership between High End Systems and Grace Audio includes countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay. In Addition Grace Audio, Inc. has appointed the following sub-regional distributors: Mexico D.F.: Miller Mix (Roberto Devesa); Central America (except Panama): Prosound (Melvyn Chuy) and Panama: RW Systems (Jaime Sierra).

Pilar Costa, president of Grace Audio, comments, "High End Systems is the pioneer of the professional lighting and control systems industry. Over more than a decade we, at Grace A

UK - "We really can't tell you how much this saved our home and family."

"For everybody who contributes to Behind the Scenes, thank you. You helped save my life."

"I can't thank you all enough. Light Relief does life changing work, and my life has been changed by what you do."

Without the help of either Light Relief in the UK or Behind the Scenes in the US and Canada, these people - and many more - would have been in real financial difficulties as a result of illness or injury.

A major fundraiser for both charities is By Design Day, being held this year on Thursday 24 April. You can make a personal donation, hold a collection at work or - if you are a designer - you can support the day by giving a day's royalties to one or both of these charities.

To date Light Relief has awarded more than £60,000 in grants to help lighting professiona

UK - This year, Robe was already involved in some of the highest high profile New Year's shows around the world including Berlin, Las Vegas and New York ... and once again its moving lights were right at the centre of the action for Chinese New Year celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square, featuring an afternoon of onstage entertainment culminating in a massive son et lumière extravaganza finale show to welcome the Year of the Horse.

Organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association and supported by the Mayor of London and Westminster City Council, the event - which lasts all afternoon and covers activities happening in the key areas of Leicester Square, Soho, Charing Cross Road and Chinatown - celebrates Chinese history culture and art, and is the biggest outside Asia.

Lighting, audio and power specialists Ethix Management run by Paul Jones supplied an all-Robe moving

UK - Funky Junk has added Pearl Microphones to its distribution roster.

"Having used and loved Pearl Microphones for more than 20 years, I was delighted when the opportunity arose to represent the brand in the UK," says Funky Junk's founder Mark Thompson. "These microphones have an exceptional pedigree and history. They deliver great results, particularly on acoustics instruments, and they are built to last. It's no surprise to me that vintage Pearl Microphones are as much in demand as new ones."

Pearl's chairman, Sven Olof Andersson, says, "We are extremely happy to be working with Mark Thompson and his crew of dedicated professionals in the UK. Pearl goes a long way back in Britain and we will now continue to grow there with an exciting line-up of products and new developments."

Founded in 1941, Pearl is renowned for its award-winning rectangu

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