China - The Zhengzhou Opera and Dance Theatre recently relied upon LumenRadio's CRMX wireless lighting controls for the stage production of Roselle between Moon and Water. Zhengzhou is the capital of the Henan Province and a vibrant cultural hub for central China. Numerous government dignitaries attended the opening night and the popular show has since gone on to play sold-out houses.

CRMX distributor Leafun provided equipment, including lighting consoles, media servers, digital lighting fixtures, and an extensive CRMX wireless distribution system for this elaborate production.

"LumenRadio's CRMX was instrumental in this production that made extensive use of digital projections and lighting effects," says Steven Cai at Leafun. "Four wireless DMX universes were distributed from lighting consoles and media servers to digital lighting fixtures and other devi

UK - Like the ABTT, WiSE has much to celebrate: In just a few years it has grown to embrace over 420 female industry members worldwide; is about to complement its members only social networking site with a public facing website (so everyone can get involved) and, for the first time ever, will have its very own stand at the ABTT show.

WiSE was established in 2008 to address the under representation of women in the technical disciplines of entertainment. Since then the organisation has established links with colleges, businesses and training organisations, run a series of successful networking events, mentorship programmes and technical training sessions and lobbies for fair working conditions for everyone.

It could not have done this without the support of the industry it serves and works with. So, to celebrate its success, WiSE has invited aspiring cocktail designers from its

Germany - In 1991, an instantaneous idea to help a local radio station set the path for what would end up as Germany's greatest indoor rave - Mayday. Traditionally held on the night before 1 May, Mayday has been in residence since 1997 at Dortmund's Westfalenhallen. Just as the Arena in hall 1 represents Trance and softer sounds, so the Empire in hall 3 draws fans of hard techno and electro.

Inside the Empire it's all about hard beats and massive sound levels - and the night is probably one of the longest. Approximately 14 hours of hard techno have become a benchmark for technology and event lighting designer Roland Aberle knows the task: "Reliability, under high pressure and over a long period is what I expect from the fixtures - and I also need tools which allow creative design. Techno is so much more than mindless 'boom boom' ... it's thrilling, demanding and diverse. Fo

UK - As part of the ongoing celebrations to mark Northern Light's 40th year in business, the company plans to raffle a rare bottle of 1971 vintage single malt whisky at this year's ABTT Theatre Show.

The single malt is from the Macallan distillery and is billed as a traditional Speyside malt with balanced fruit and smoke elements and a rounding sherry character.

Lois Ferguson, marketing manager for the company, said, "As a Scottish company formed in 1971, it seemed appropriate to offer a bottle of Scotland's most famous export from the same year to one lucky customer. This bottle is a vintage release from Gordon & Macphail, one of the world's most respected distilleries."

Individuals can enter the raffle by visiting Northern Light on stand 93 in the Lawrence Hall at the ABTT Theatre Show on 15 and 16 June and providing their business card or completing a form to go

UK - Robe moving lights and Anolis LED fixtures were specified by lighting designer Simon Marcus from Enlightened to illuminate Bath Abbey, Pulteney Bridge and other key architectural features around the UK World Heritage spa town's city centre for the opening night of the 2011 Bath International Music Festival - Party In The City.

It is the second year that locally based Marcus has designed a lighting scheme for Bath Abbey, which was founded in 1499. His client was Bath Tourism & Leisure.

He needed a selection of reliable, flexible, bright lightsources which could be rigged over four levels of the Abbey. Having large quantities of both Robe and Anolis units in Enlightened's hire stock, and long experience of using them for many applications, he knew they would be suitable for the job. He also took the opportunity to use six newly purchased Robe Robin 600 LEDWashes.

T

Italy - Pala Phenomenon is a new multipurpose entertainment centre in the North of Italy. It hosts a space for live bands with a 150sq.m stage and live music five evenings a week. It has a disco bar with pre-disco, after dinner and post-live-music events, a restaurant, and a selection of large halls There is also a swimming pool, open from May to September, which is covered with transparent panels during the winter to become a dance floor.

Denis Biaggi was the scenic and lighting designer for the whole establishment. He reports, "One of the owner Marco Cerutti's basic requirements was to create a stage that could be adapted to different types of show: concerts, conventions, theatre and dance. In view of the various different purposes the structure needs to serve, my first concern was to set up widespread convenient suspension points for any future shows, and an adequate num

UK - Spotlight will show a selection of its extensive range of theatrical lighting fixtures and accessories at the 2011 ABTT exhibition in London this week, where it will have its own dedicated section on the stand of K distributor, A.C Entertainment Technologies.

The Spotlight display will feature a preview of the Midi LED Zoom RGBW Profile 200W fixture and Midi LED Zoom RGBW Wash 200W - a 'twin' version of the successful Midi LED Zoom RGBW Wash 100W offering double the brightness and coverage. The high intensity LED module features an adjustable zoom from 12° to 50°. With the combination of RGB and white LEDs, it can generate a near infinite mix of colours as well as pre-determined whites ranging from 2900K to 6000K, says the company.

The Spotlight Pole Operated theatrical lighting range is designed for educational establishments, amateur theatres, conference auditor

USA - Following a period of rapid growth since its appointment as a distributor of Global Truss products in the USA, California-based GLP (German Light Products) US Inc has now announced that it has been appointed as the sole and exclusive distributor of Global Truss products for the US and Canadian markets.

Global Truss is an established manufacturer of trussing, support systems and clamp accessories. All products are approved to the stringent TÜV standard. "GLP German Light Products Inc have shown the utmost level of commitment to the Global Truss range since becoming a distributor, and hold a large stock inventory at its California head office. Offering immediate delivery, competitive pricing and outstanding customer service, the company is extremely gratified that it has been awarded exclusive distributor status," says a statement from GLP Inc.

(Lee Baldock)

Czech Republic - Metropole Zli?ín is a fashion and entertainment complex, nine kilometres west of Prague city centre. It includes a cinema with 10 modern movie theatres, equipped with high quality sound systems, one of the most modern bowling alleys in the Czech Republic, plus clubs, bars and restaurants.

The fountain is the heart of the Clay Paky rig. Alpha Spot HPE 300s and Alpha Wash 300s hang from the ceiling above the waterworks and illuminate them with various colours as the music changes.

The lights were installed by Art Jgs, Clay Paky distributor for the area, which also dealt with the lighting design.

(Jim Evans)

Turkey - The recently opened Nomads nightclub in Istanbul features Coemar's moving heads. The iSpot 575 MB models have been installed in the large room and are controlled via the Director 768 mixer.

Nomads Istanbul follows the concept of the original Amsterdam venue, serving up a combination of European and Eastern culture in both its style and cuisine, with interior decorations and tableware sourced from Morocco and Egypt. With views of the Bosporus, a bar hung with hundreds of colourful, handmade Arabic lambs and a hidden garden, Nomads is set to make a mark on Istanbul's vibrant nightlife.

(Jim Evans)

Turkey - Jands Europe has expanded its dealer network as a direct result of "the phenomenal response" to the launch of the new Vista v2 software at this year's Prolight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt.

Istanbul-based Atempo has been appointed as the exclusive new Turkish dealer for the Jands range of lighting controllers and dimmers.

Says Jands Europe's Neil Vann: "We ensure that we choose the best companies to represent and support the whole Jands range in their respective regions, and are delighted to welcome the Atempo Group as the newest member of our constantly growing international dealer network. They have all the technical expertise, dedication and attention to detail that we look for in a partner company."

Atempo's Istanbul regional director, Volkan Konuralp, comments: "Jands Vista v2 opens up a completely new horizon of lighting control for a

UK - Tower Productions recently provided a turnkey package in the grounds of Cardiff Castle for a Heineken Cup Final event, comprising power, heating, lighting, audio, video and networking.

Site access restrictions meant no large plant could deployed so Tower synchronised four 100kva machines from their own stock to give a 400kva generation package with 100% redundancy.

Christie Roadster HD18ks, Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 spots, and a dozen ETC Source Four profiles looked after the external branding/projection onto the castle walls with Dominator and NovaLight High Ground searchlights for aerial effects. 40 green 400W HQI's provided a solid base colour to the castle walls.

Inside the marquee, an array of HD plasma screens from Tower's newly formed AV department were recessed into the set showing the game, associated branding and information, live camera and a Sky HD feed.

In

USA - Wybron has introduced the newest Cygnus family member - Cygnus Incite 375WProfile. Boasting a 6400 lumen field, while only consuming a maximum of 375 watts, the Incite offers as much as 10 x the brightness of competing fixtures, says the company.

"Incite packs all the features you'd expect to find in today's fixture package, consisting of self-contained power supply, colour changer and dimmer into one energy efficient, incredibly reliable, cost effective profile light.", states John Sondericker, Wybron VP of research and development.

"In keeping with Wybron's dedication to quality, special attention was paid to features that many other manufacturers overlook. One of these features is a quiet, advanced thermal management system that ensures optimal output and consistent colour over longer life spans. In fact, it's so cool you can print your own gobos."

Australia - One of the most popular events at this year's Vivid Festival held in Sydney was FireDance, a performance of dancing flames choreographed to music.

Using 40 jets of flame - higher than a three-story house - FireDance exploded several times a night every night of Vivid Sydney - making Campbells Cove in the Rocks, the world's biggest campfire.

Choreographed to music using the same technology that controls the Harbour Bridge fireworks every New Year's Eve, FireDance featured two different shows, alternating between each other on the 18 incendiary nights of Vivid Sydney. One show was more pop music with the firejet flames dancing to the Katie Perry hit Firework, remixed by renowned artist Peewee Ferris, whilst the other show saw them in a choreographed balletic performance to the magic of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.

FireDance was produced and created by Howard & Sons

UK / Australia - PLASA has confirmed the line-up of international speakers for the PLASA sponsored international seminar programme at ENTECH 2011.

Taking place from the 19-21 July 2011 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, ENTECH has been Australia's leading biennial trade show for the entertainment, live events and corporate installation sectors for 17 years. Visitor attendance to the event has always been strong and this year it will be further strengthened by the co-location of the SMPTE conference and exhibition - a major event for the broadcast, pro-audio, audio visual, lighting, staging and commercial integration markets.

Three keynote speakers have been confirmed as part of the PLASA programme, each bringing their expertise in the lighting, audio and rigging sectors to the event.

Lighting designer Rob Halliday is an internationally respected lighting program

USA - grandMA2 featured on the latest US tour of Hillsong United, the Christian band drawn from the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, which has grown from a worship team supporting youth meetings at the church to a defined touring band that travels worldwide.

Hillsong United's latest US tour spanned venues from LA's Staples Centre to Boston's Orpheum Theatre. Among the equipment complement was a grandMA2 full-size front of house for lighting control and a grandMA2 light as backup.

Ian Hendrick, who designed the tour's lighting and programmed and operated the grandMA2, has been using MA Lighting consoles for more than a decade. "I don't see any reason to stop," he says. "The original grandMA was a solid platform that was powerful enough for anything you could throw at it, scalable from the smallest gig to the biggest extravaganza, and surprisingly user friend

Russia - Martin Professional's Representative Office in Russia recently celebrated its first anniversary - a year of "unprecedented growth and success" - at a special party with partners and friends at club Lookin Rooms in Moscow.

Key rental companies, representatives of installation firms, major dealers, industrial retailers and leading journalists were all on hand to share in the celebration with Martin's Russian team.

The evening's programme included talks by Martin Professional's vice president of distributor sales, Bruno Garros, and head of the Russian Representative Office, Mikhail Kuznetsov. Also on the programme were several surprises like a draw with the main prize a trip to the Martin factory in Denmark.

"Russia is our most important market from a growth perspective and is currently the largest market outside our traditional subsidiary markets,"

UK - Entries are now open for The Theatres Trust second annual People's Choice Award, following a launch event at the ABTT Theatre Show 2011.

Entries are invited from entertainment industry manufacturers/suppliers with a product that they consider is making a difference to theatres sustainability, either through design, manufacture or operation. Successful applicants products will be displayed on The Theatres Trust's stand 2-M14 at PLASA 2011 from the 11-14 September and visitors to the show will cast their vote for the People's Choice Award.

Visitors to stands at both the ABTT Theatre Show and PLASA 2011 will be able to see a variety of information on the Trust's European Regional Development Fund-backed 'Ecovenue' sustainability project, which is improving the sustainability of 48 London performing arts venues.

At PLASA 2011, after three days of visitor voting, the award w

USA - LDI, the annual US trade show and conference for the entertainment design and technology industry, has announced a five-year partnership with PLASA, the international entertainment technology trade organisation.

The purpose of the agreement is to expand the reach of both PLASA and LDI, and broaden training options for industry professionals.

According to organisers Penton Media, PLASA's international reach adds a broader global dimension to LDI. The Technical Standards Updates track, now from PLASA (formerly ESTA) will again form part of LDI's training line-up this year, giving LDI professional attendees the latest information on essential issues at the heart of the industry.

PLASA will be able to share its technical updates with the industry at large and benefit from the additional US exposure for its trade show and association. By partnering with LDI, PLASA also adds

Israel - Robe moving lights once again were the primary moving light fixtures used for the Israeli Opera's Aida at the 2011 Dead Sea & Jerusalem Opera Festival, a co-production with the Les Choragies d'Orange in France, staged in the outdoor purpose built amphitheatre at the foot of Masada Mountain by the Dead Sea.

As with the first Masada event in 2010, for which the whole site was built in the rocky desert terrain, lighting for the production was created by Avi Yona Bueno (Bambi), with the majority of the performance lighting equipment supplied by UK based rental company HSL, including all the Robes.

Technical production for the whole site was co-ordinated by Tel Aviv based The Design Group, production managed by Eyal Lavee working closely with Elad Mainz and Eviatar Banayan.

Robe was again specified - with 96 of Robe's most powerful 2500 series units chosen because

UAE / Latvia - Following the recent announcement of the IBS Group's partnership with theatre equipment designer, manufacturer and installer JR Clancy, the Group's IBS Solutions division has announced that it is partnering with Company NA, a Latvian company producing its own lighting and control equipment.

As the official GCC distributor for the Company NA branded products, IBS Solutions will offer the full range of LED fixtures, fluorescent floodlights, strobes, splitters and dimmers through its office in Dubai Investments Park to the region as a whole.

Founded in 1994 by Aldis Janevics and Normund Blasans, Company NA started out as a rental company which over the years has been involved in high profile events such as the Eurovision Song Contest, and only in more recent times developed into a designer and manufacturer of lighting equipment.

"One of the advantages

Slovakia - Wireless Solution Sweden AB and Kvant have announced an OEM agreement to offer the W-DMX technology factory installed into the Kvant line of Spectrum lasers designed for spectacular indoor and outdoor applications. Headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, Kvant is one of the biggest high-tech laser manufacturers worldwide.

Director, Dr. Pavol Kubošek commented, "When it comes to lasers, offering the ability to operate them with wireless DMX is a huge bonus. Of all the systems on the market we found W-DMX to be the most reliable and robust available."

Shelly Li, sales manager for Wireless Solution said, "Kvant lasers are of superior quality and deliver spectacular effects to shows. With the addition of factory fitted W-DMX, users have even more flexibility in their installations. We're very happy to be part of this product line."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Lighting designer Oli Richards supported by Richard Martin Lighting (RML) provide Pulsar ChromaPanel's on the long running comedy panel game show, 8 Out of 10 Cats which is back on Channel 4 with Jimmy Carr presenting.

The ChromaPanel is a square colour mixing panel that utilises high-power LEDs to create a vivid panel of changing colour making it suitable for suspended ceilings or decorative wall or set displays.

The show's title is derived from a well-known advertising tagline for Whiskas cat food which originally claimed that '8 out of 10 cats prefer Whiskas'.

(Jim Evans)

UK - This year the ABTT Awards were sponsored by Jelf Insurance who during the show launched their Public Liability/PI insurance scheme tailored to the needs of people who work in the entertainment industry.

The Lighting Product of the Year went to The Arc LED Houselight System from Global Design Solutions. The judges were impressed by the wireless dimming performance of these bespoke fittings manufactured to retrofit existing tungsten lighting in auditoriums and Front of House locations. Honourable mentions went to the LEDKO Reflection LED profile spot and the Robe Robin Wash 600.

Shure's new Axient Radio Microphone System took the award for Sound Product of the Year at the ABTT Product of the Year Awards. Axient was recognised by the judging panel for its clever frequency management, as well as its increased spectral efficiency, allowing large numbers of wirele

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