Lighting

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Event lighting specialist, Matthieu Larivée, who has been honoured with international awards for his special event lighting designs at the Pyramids in Egypt, will deliver the keynote at the lighting solutions conference taking place at this year's PALME Middle East expo which takes place 26-28 April at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

During his presentation entitled, Transforming One of the Seven Wonders of the World - Live at the Pyramids, Larivée will discuss the need to push the boundaries of lighting and audio visual technologies for events. Using his own creative work as an example, specifically he will examine future trends and review the latest technology available.

"Larivée has earned a solid reputation for his multi-dimensional artistic approach and global vision of a show," said Alex Heuff, exhibition director, PALME.

In 20

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Denmark - In May, the Martin MAC 250 Krypton will celebrate its six-year anniversary. Martin Professional is celebrating by offering a 10% price discount on the MAC 250 Krypton. The campaign will run from 1 April until the end of June.

Six years on and the MAC 250 Krypton is still going strong, says the company, having been specified on a huge variety of clubs, special events, television shows, restaurants, houses of worship, cruise ships, and more.

(Jim Evans)

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Show Time - The lighting, sound and production industries head to Frankfurt this week for ProLight+Sound 2009 and judging by the flood of pre-show product information - and launch party invitations - received by LSI, there will be much new to see and hear. Not surprisingly, then, the organisers are anticipating healthy attendance figures.

Woodstock Reprise - Michael Lang, the co-founder of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival, is reportedly seeking sponsors for a 40th anniversary reprise in New York City. "The chances that something will happen are probable," he told the Times. "But I don't really have the answer yet as to what that will be." Central Park has been suggested as a possible location for the event. The Who were among the acts who played at the original concert, which took place in Bethel, New York State. A 30th anniversary concert

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Denmark - Available now is the LC Plus Series from Martin Professional, a modular system of LED video panels with new generation technology that closely integrates light, video and set design for new possibilities in indoor and outdoor staging. Designed for the demanding rental and staging market, yet equally suitable for fixed installations such as retail environments and outdoor architecture, the LC Plus is an easy-to-use, all-in-one video solution, says the company.

The LC Plus is built around Martin's new P3 technology platform (Pixel Push Protocol) for video signal processing and distribution. Based on Gigabit Ethernet and Ca t5e wiring, the P3 technology removes the inherent limitations of video-type protocols for easy connectivity and speed of set-up.

The Ethernet based system is true plug and play, eliminating the limitations of DVI, fibre optic and coax (SDI) cable co

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UK - When the Bird College in Sidcup, a leading training centre for dance and theatre performance, needed to adapt one of their dance studios to allow it to be easily transformed into a performance space and back, it was to entertainment lighting supplier White Light that they turned.

"The college required us to provide a versatile rig that would allow the space to be transformed from a dance studio into a theatre space and back again" notes Matt Stridgen, White Light's projects co-ordinator responsible for the Bird College installation. "This required the installation of a new lighting grid and lighting infrastructure together with tracking and drapes to allow the space itself to be varied."

The new installation is based around an 8m by 7.5m internally-wired lighting grid featuring 20 15A sockets as well as a DMX outlet for control of automated lighting or

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The Netherlands/New Zealand - Royal Philips has announced today that it has acquired New Zealand-based Selecon. Under the terms of the agreement, Philips will acquire the business assets of Selecon New Zealand Limited, Selecon UK Limited, Selecon North America LLC and Aureol Lighting Limited. No financial details on the transaction were disclosed.

"Selecon's highly acclaimed luminaires for the theatrical and architectural markets will further strengthen the breadth of solutions Philips can offer to important professional customers such as performing arts centres, churches, convention centres and hotels," said Rudy Provoost, chief executive of Philips' Lighting sector. "Today we are further strengthening the product portfolio of our globally leading entertainment lighting business, building on the foundation provided by the acquisition of Genlyte in 2008."

H

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USA - Rosco Laboratories and The ESTA Foundation have announced the presentation by Mark Engel, president of Rosco, of a cheque for the first annual royalty payment to Behind the Scenes from sales of the colour Roscolux 359 Medium Violet. Engel presented the cheque for $2,876 in front of a large gathering on the show floor at USITT in Cincinnati just prior to the annual Behind the Scenes / Long Reach Long Rider raffle.

Engel stated, "These challenging economic times require both imaginative solutions -- and compassion for those in need. That's one of the reasons Rosco is so pleased to be involved in The ESTA Foundation's Behind The Scenes programme. We contribute a part of the proceeds from sales of one of the most popular colours in Roscolux, 359 Medium Violet, to Behind The Scenes. More and more people throughout the industries we serve are choosing this colour both for m

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Germany - Lighting manufacturer OSRAM now offers two high-performance HMI metal halide lamps. The stars on the set - OSRAM HMI 24000W/DXS and OSRAM HMI 1800W/SE XS - are being shown at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt this week.

The new HMI 24000W/DXS displays its strengths especially in large-scale location shots. The double-base HMI 24000W/DXS owes its high performance of more than two million lumens to the recently developed sealing foil system with four molybdenum foils, which is also implemented in the current HMI 18000W/DXS. Together with OSRAM's eXtreme Seal technology the lamp's thermal resistance is especially impressive: the maximum permitted pinch temperature in the lamp is 450?C. The average lifespan of the HMI 24000W/DXS is around 375 hours.

The Single-base OSRAM HMI 1800W/SE XS are suitable for use as spotlights in TV and photo studios as well as in stagecraft. With

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Italy - In one of the major announcements to be made at last week's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, two of Italy's best-known manufacturers have joined forces. RCF Group announced at the show that it had finalised the agreement to purchase 51% of SGM Technology for Lighting SpA. SGM is a well-known manufacturer serving the entertainment and architectural lighting industry, with 30 years of experience and many prestigious reference projects around the world.

Gabriele Giorgi, president of SGM, said: "It is a great opportunity to for us to become one of the companies of the RCF Group. Ove the years we have built a very dedicated team and, together with our worldwide distribution partners, we have significantly expanded our international sales. Looking ahead we felt it was time to structure our company for a more demanding market and being part of a larger grou

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UK - Avolites launched the new ART 2000 PowerCube at the 2009 Prolight & Sound exhibition in Frankfurt during last week. Avolites says this new range is the latest step in its portable dimmer, mains and data distribution systems which includes its popular ART Dimmer Range.

Based on the technology of the ART 2000 Touring range, the ART PowerCube features 12 dimmer circuits, 6 combined dimmer and fixed mains circuits, 6 dedicated fixed mains and two 16A utility circuits, all contained in a compact flightcase that can be lifted by one person and securely stacked. It also includes two outlets on each circuit, and Ethernet input with ARTnet support to cover the varied control situations that this system will encounter, say Avolites.

18 local control fades allow for quick access to lights and provide for 12 memories to be replayed.The familiar ART2000 operating system features Softp

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UK - Hawthorn has announced the appointment of Karen Riley, Mark Russell, Max Nembhard and May Lee to its London sales team, joining Suzanne Allis, who has been working in the business development team for the past eight months. The new team bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to the business.

Prior to joining Hawthorn, Russell worked in senior sales and marketing roles with British Airways for 12 years followed by seven years working for high end corporate event agency, Attention To Detail.

Riley joins Hawthorn with over eight years experience working for live event technical production companies. Most recently she was sales & marketing manager for PSL Events.

Formerly sales manager for lighting console manufacturer Avolites, Lee's experience working with lighting buyers will be invaluable in selling the full Hawthorn portfolio, says the company.

Russel

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Sweden - CAST Software was behind-the-scenes at the recent Elle Galan 2009 - one of the most illustrious fashion events in Sweden, held at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm.

CAST Software is the maker of two popular software suites in the entertainment and event industries - Vivien-Virtual Event Designer and wysiwyg. These tools were used to create the design for the show.

Three key designers worked on the project, lighting designer Mats Andreasson, production manager Ola Melzig and set designer Åse Persson, sharing wysiwygand Vivien files with each other to meet the demands of a challenging layout, creating a striking design while saving time and money.

The venue presented a few obstacles for the team, as Grand Hotel, which opened in 1874, was never designed for the range of events to be held within its walls. Automated lights, strobe lighting

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UK - Lighting Partners is now the exclusive distributor for Hazebase Products in the UK and Ireland. The distribution agreement, having been under discussion for a number of months, was finalised during ProLight&Sound in Frankfurt.

"The move to Hazebase was a logical decision for the company," commented Lighting Partners director, Iain Dennis. "Hazebase products share technology, components, and consumables with Smoke Factory so we already have huge experience in selling and supporting the range."

Uta Raabe, owner of Hazebase in Germany explained: "This collaboration with Lighting Partners in the UK marks a significant milestone in the development of the Hazebase brand worldwide. The UK Market is an important one for any manufacturer and finding a company which shares our ethos of first class customer service has taken us some time."

Coinciding

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Czech Republic - Robe Lighting staged its third International Dealer Conference in Roznov, Czech Republic, attended by over 150 people representing Robe distributors from around the world.

The one day event was timed just ahead of the Prolight&Sound show in Frankfurt, allowing attendees to preview Robe's product launches for the show as well as energising them for the exhibition.

The day started with a tour of Robe's factory premises in Valasske Mezirici. This has been expanded considerably since the last Dealer Conference in 2007, with an additional 4000sq.m of space added, which is being utilised for new warehousing facilities and a logistics centre, plus plastic moulding workshop. Visitors also saw the new Robe Research Centre, the hub of the company's R&D department and another addition since 2007.

The agenda included a stop off at the new Anolis factory, a totally separ

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UK - A.C. Special Projects has provided a new lighting rig for the auditorium at the Cass Business School in Moorgate, central London. Part of City University, Cass is one of the leading international business schools. The auditorium provides the central focus for both student learning and major public lectures and acts as an important forum for the City of London.

With the auditorium's existing lighting proving inadequate for filming key lectures and guest speaker talks, Cass approached A.C. Special Projects to specify a solution. The new rig needed to provide adequate light levels for filming without dazzling the audience or compromising the visibility of two large back-projected screens in the centre of the stage area.

A.C. Special Projects specified fixtures from the Spotlight Mini Series, which feature the latest theatrical lighting technologies in a compact yet powerful

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UK - Audio Light Systems has recently completed the performing arts technology installation at the Michael Croft Theatre in London. The new build theatre which is part of the famous Edward Alleyn's School, asked Audio Light Systems to install full audio, Lighting, AV & specialist systems at the venue.

The state of the art 360-seat theatre in Dulwich, which will also be used by the National Youth Theatre was described by the London Standard as "more comfortable than the West End, more trendy that the Almeida, more aesthetically pleasing than the South Bank".

The audio installation features a Yamaha LS9-32 FOH desk and KV2 Audio's EX FOH speakers. The lighting includes Stand Light Pallet Classic 1500 console, ETC Sensor dimmers, ETC and Selecon lanterns and GDS Blues System lighting.

AV features include a Christie DW5K projector and Kramer Digital signal distr

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Germany - PR Lighting launched its StarBrite LED cloth at this year's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt - forming a shimmering backcloth to the stand - and the XLED 590 wash light.

The latter uses 90 Osram Diamond Dragon 5W RGB LEDs in each head. This is one of the world's brightest single-chip SMT LEDs (offering up to 250 lumens). PR Lighting sales director Cui-Lin states that the light output closely resembles that of a conventional wash light containing a 1200W discharge lamp, with the advantage of excellent colour mixing and high uniformity of the white beam. The standard beam angle is 22° but 10° and 35° options are also provided.

"We are delighted with the response we have received to both this and the StarBrite, which proved so popular with customers that we received an instant order for the display backdrop."

The StarBrite LED cloth comes w

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Austria - The Burgtheater in Vienna is one of the most prominent stages in Europe and after the Comédie-Française, the second oldest European language theatre. More than 100 invited theatre technicians from Austrian theatres and opera houses experienced a live presentation of the grandMA2 and were hugely impressed by the ambitious theatre dedication of the new series and its powerful features.

During the following hands-on sessions, everyone had the chance to take a closer look at the grandMA2 system, containing of grandMA2 full-size, grandMA2 light as well as grandMA ultra-light plus wings, a replay unit and MA's unique and integrated software tools grandMA2 remote and grandMA2 onPC as well as grandMA 3D and grandMA video.

"It was a great honour for us to be at the famous Burgtheater for our grandMA2 presentation for the Austrian theatre market," comments Fr

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USA - America's most popular Christian artist of the past few years, Chris Tomlin, is currently out on an ambitious Hello Love tour in support of his latest album of the same name. The tour, which kicked off in January and is playing arenas across the US into 2010, was one of the first U.S. tours to spec the MAC III Profile.

Jon Weir of production company Majestic Productions of Summitville, Indiana designed the lighting and handled programming for the tour with lighting supply by Majestic as well. The lighting rig is all Martin gear and includes 16 MAC III Profiles, 12 MAC 2000 Washes, 12 MAC 600 washlights and two MAC 2000 Profiles.

"When I started designing this tour, details on the MAC III were few and far between," says Weir. "But after talking to our Martin rep we arranged a demo and as soon as I fired it up and saw the huge beam coming out of it, I

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UK - The next generation of LED lighting effect, the new Fusion 672, will be on show around the country in the forthcoming months as it sets out on a UK Roadshow in conjunction with the hit Take That musical Never Forget.

The possibilities of Fusion are best appreciated by seeing it in action, says the company, which is why White Light, as its UK distributors, is taking it on a whirlwind tour of the UK alongside Never Forget, giving anyone interested the opportunity to see what it can do.

Never Forget's lighting designer James Whiteside is putting Fusion to spectacular use as a dramatic backdrop to the show. "We use Fusion in the show's big numbers, hung vertically and controlled as a pixelmap from our grandMA console. They are light and easy to hang in this or any configuration. More importantly, they provide a really big impact - the 'bang for buck'

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UK - White Light reports that it is now approved supplier at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London.

"We are very excited to have included White Light as one of our new approved suppliers, and look forward to seeing their teams within the museum very soon," notes Nigel Mullins, operations manager at the museum.

"White Light has been investing heavily with its lighting inventory, to raise the bar within the corporate events industry. Bringing new and exciting visual LED products that are also sustainable in their technologies, these will complement the fantastic environment within the museum." comments Richard Wilson, White Light director.

(Jim Evans)

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World - A new non-profit organisation wants to ensure every piece of lighting equipment using industry-wide feedback protocols performs at the highest standard possible. The Institute for Feedback Excellence, www.fbexcellence.org, will enable lighting manufacturers to test their feedback-enabled products - for now, those using Remote Device Management - to make sure they're compatible with other feedback devices.

The organisation's three founders are Enttec Pty. Ltd. of Australia, Martin Professional A/S of Denmark, and Wybron, Inc. of the U.S. All three manufacturers have strongly embraced the RDM industry feedback standard.

"Our goal here is not to break trail for new protocols. That is being handled very capably by ESTA and PLASA and the committee members who work diligently to advance the technical standards used in lighting control," said Jeremy Kumin, Enttec's

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UK - Stage Electrics launched its new range of LED screens at its Great Easter Switch On event, held in Bristol in a large outdoor marquee. The one- day launch event was attended by a cross section of those responsible for live events and was an opportunity to learn more about the screens and their capabilities.

In addition to the LED screens, the event included presentations by Jochem Feldberg, director of Ice World, on the benefits of temporary ice rinks, presentations on the SPLNet noise level monitor and the importance of health and safety at live events for organisers.

Stage Electrics installed a temporary mini ice rink at the event and invited guests to have a skate. After lunch and networking there was a chance for guests to speak to Stage Electrics' training experts and view website demonstrations.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - Robe lighting enjoyed a very busy Frankfurt 2009, seeing more people than expected and experiencing considerable interest in its newly launched products - the Robin 3 Plasma Spot, the Robin 300E Spot and Wash fixtures and the REDMix 2Ÿ188 Outdoor LED wash light.

Robe's highly visual stand in was designed by Nathan Wan from the UK office, utilising a combination of Digital and RED (Robe Emitting Diodes) Series products as well as conventional moving lights.

The new Robin (Robe Innovative Concept) units together with the DigitalSpots attracted interest from all sectors of the industry. Visitors included a diverse cross section of design professionals, reflecting the generally upbeat vibe and genuine quality of the show.

Robe ran a separate demonstration area throughout the four show days to illustrate the new products to all wanting a closer and more in-depth look.

  1. Spaceworks LED-based furniture
  2. ETC proves popular at ProLight&Sound
  3. Synthe FX releases enhanced Luminair 1.5
  4. LEDtronics debuts spotlight bulbs
  5. Artistic Licence and Broadgate Estates vote Earth
  6. Robert Juliat stars in Handball Championships
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