Lighting

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Bahrain - Event design, technical and scenic production specialist Maestra Group has opened a base in Bahrain and announced a new partnership with the Ritz-Carlton resort and its 43,000sq.ft conference and exhibition facility.
As the resort’s exclusive event partner, Maestra will oversee all technical aspects of the new Arena facility, which offers a full set-up and capacity for large banquet receptions and global conferences.
Maestra’s Tom Clements comments: “We are extremely excited about this new venture and to be involved in such a high profile and incredibly well-designed event space. For Maestra Group, this is a logical expansion of our work in Dubai, and it will also be the first step in some strategic expansion plans for Maestra Group in the Middle East.”
“As Bahrain becomes a global destination for premiere conferences and events in the region

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UK - The ALD has launched the ALD Awards for Excellence, a scheme aimed at students and recent graduates that replaces the annual Michael Northern Awards.
The ALD says the new format “better reflects” the association’s growing representation and introduces a restructured prize fund, with three categories instead of four.
Rory Beaton, head of the ALD’s Working Group for Awards, comments: “The awards have grown in stature and, like most things, need a firm foundation from which to grow further. With the consolidation of naming and prize structure, The ALD Awards for Excellence have a strong and flexible framework to shape them for the future.”
The awards are now open for submissions to current students studying in the UK, recent graduates (2017-present)

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USA - Debuting on the Acoustic Sage at Glastonbury, the Maverick MK3 Spot from Chauvet Professional created such an impression on at least one visiting LD that he thought it was a 1700W arc lamp fixture when he first saw it. Such is the brightness of this 820W moving LED fixture with a 51,000-lumen source.
However, the new spot fixture is more than just a potent light cannon. Aside from packing enough punch to rock even the largest arena, the Maverick MK3 Spot is also loaded with features that make it right at home in a variety of applications, from major events to broadcast projects, says the company.
“We designed this tool to be as versatile as it is powerful,” says Albert Chauvet, CEO of Chauvet. “Our goal in developing this product was to create an extremely bright and intense fixture that was also flexible enough to meet multiple needs for designers and ren

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UAE - The Protec Group’s Dubai branch has started investing in Robe moving lights, including BMFLs, Pointes, MegaPointes, Spikies and RoboSpot systems.
The purchases have been spearheaded by Protec’s head of lighting, Aaron Russ.
The company delivers full technical production solutions across entertainment, leisure and commercial sectors - from corporate presentations to music festivals - throughout the UAE, Middle East and UK / Europe.
Russ explains that it was a case of the right product at the right time with Robe. Obviously, they had other moving lights in stock up until this point, but the first batch of 96 Pointes were sourced to replace a competitor beam light product, together with 48 Spikies on the same order.
Then in 2018, for opening ceremony of the Qiddiya Theme Park in Riyadh, KSA with a design by US-based LD John Featherstone of Lightswitc

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USA - Summer may be winding down but Bandit Lites production schedule is still packed with tours, festivals and events. Due to the immense demand, the global lighting company has made another sizeable investment in Claypaky gear including the new Scenius Unico and Mythos 2 from ACT.
The Claypaky Scenius Unico can be utilised as both a spotlight for projecting effects and a wash light and features six rotating gobos, a rotating prism and an animation wheel. It also shoots a powerful narrow beam of hyper concentrated light. Bandit Lites supplied Scenius Unico fixtures for Nick Whitehouse’s design for Carrie Underwood’s Cry Pretty Tour 360.
“The Claypaky Unico offers designers a complete array of parameters from a high output spot fixture,” says Jake Tickle, Bandit Lites director of technology and service department. “It is truly a workhorse.”
Bandit

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USA - Matthieu Larivée with Lüz Studio in Montréal serves as production and lighting designer on the current tour of American rock band The Raconteurs and uses Upstaging-supplied Elation DARTZ 360 LED moving heads to complement the group’s guitar-driven sound. Formed in 2006 by Jack White of The White Stripes and Brendan Benson, The Raconteurs recently emerged from a 10-year hiatus with launch of a new album Help Us Stranger.
White, known as a dedicated yet somewhat unconventional artist, is widely credited as one of the key players in the garage rock revival of the 2000s. “He is completely focused on the music and performance and wants to keep the audience very focused as well,” explains Larivée, who also worked on Jack White’s most recent solo tour. “He wants to make sure the audience is getting a good experience so there are no cell phones allowed dur

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Costa Rica - Obsidian Control Systems has appointed Luces y Sistemas as its exclusive distributor in Costa Rica. Under the terms of the agreement, Luces y Sistemas will provide full support for the entire Obsidian line of hardware and software lighting control solutions.
To introduce the brand to its customers, the San Jose-based company is holding a two-day Onyx training event on 20-21 August at its facility in Tibas, providing a basic and advanced look at hardware and software. Those interested in attending should contact info@lucesysistemas.com for more information.
“Our goal is to provide our regional market with a diverse range of popular control and programming products under the DMX protocol, a project that we have been working on for years,” comments Luis Ricardo Sanchéz, president of Luces y Sistemas. “The decision to support our clients by di

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Lithuania - The Sakiai Culture House is an institution dedicated to preserving the rich and unique heritage of Lithuania.
Located in the southwestern region of the country, Sakiai Culture House pays homage to the revolving tapestry of Lithuanian music and theatrical productions, which have helped earn the country recognition by UNESCO as an “Intangible Heritage of Humanity”. Bringing this tradition to life is a new lighting system designed and installed by Scenos Techninis Servisas (STS) of Vilnius, Lithuania, that features a collection of Chauvet Professional LED fixtures.
Installed as part of a comprehensive renovation of the 60 year-old building, the new system features six Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidal fixtures, four Ovation B-195FC batten units, 10 Maverick MK2 Spots and 15 Maverick MK2 Washes. In addition to delivering even key lighting, the new system opens u

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UK - Hey Tracey! is a new quiz show for ITV2, hosted by Joel Dommett, where celebrities play to win cash for members of the public with some unpredictable consequences. The show needed vibrant lighting covering the full colour spectrum to “really emphasize the changing mood”, and lighting designer Roger Williams chose LEDJ Pixel Storm 12 Quad MKII battens for the job.
The Pixel Storm 12 battens from LEDJ have a 3000Hz refresh rate, valuable for studios and TV applications where flicker-free operation is essential. The fixtures are also versatile with end and central brackets for multiple rigging or floor standing applications. They also come supplied with an eyebrow to reduce glare and hide the LEDs when uplighting.
Roger Williams, lighting designer for the show, says: “I was asked to light a new ITV2 show called Hey Tracey!, filmed at BT sport stu

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South Africa - Joburg Theatre’s longstanding technical crew, headed by Enos Ramoroko, have taken delivery of new equipment to complement their busy theatre situated on Braamfontein Hill.
DWR Distribution delivered 20 Vari-Lite VL2600 Spots and four Robert Juliat Cyrano followspots to be used in the Mandela Theatre, while the audio in the Lesedi Theatre has been upgraded to an L-Acoustics ARCS Wide and Focus (WiFo) system.
“The Vari-Lite VL 2600 Spots met our needs for an LED spot,” says Enos Ramoroko, head of technical at Joburg Theatre. “The full blade shutters will be very useful for theatre applications.”
The crew are planning to use the new fixtures on productions like Sarafina, and this year’s annual pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk.
“The Mandela Theatre’s followspots, which have probably stood the test of time for aro

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Denmark - No-frills Norwegian-owned supermarket chain Rema 1000 celebrated its 25th anniversary of trading in Denmark with a massive conference and party for nearly 9,000 staff, staged at the Jyske Bank Boxen arena in Herning.
The challenge of lighting this was down to Sune Verdier, well-known for his creative flare in concert touring and theatre. He utilised 124 Robe moving lights at the core of his production design, which had to cover a full seated conference session in the afternoon followed by a full-on dance party and concert in the evening.
A star-studded line-up featured some of Denmark’s most popular artists - rockers Nephew, dance-pop band Infernal, post-punk phenomenon Minds of 99, rap group Benal and DJs Martin Jensen and house guru Kato.
The evening’s action kicked off with a hi-energy DJ set by Rema 1000 CEO Ole Robert Reitan and after a brief

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Australia - Titan Fitness is an independently owned fitness studio in Coogee, a coastal suburb of NSW, Australia.
The fully-equipped four-floor facility has been open since 2009, and its Spin Studio has recently seen the installation of 24 Astera AX1 Pixel Tubes in a new LED lighting installation. These were supplied to installers Aeromic by Astera’s Australian distributor, ULA Group.
Aeromic has been supplying and manufacturing audio and AV products to the fitness and professional health industries since 1994, and Titan Fitness has been a client for some time, explained Andrew Zarounas, Aeromic’s director and co-owner.
He and Titan Fitness CEO Mets Analin share a passion for the industry and a flair for being innovative, different and pushing the envelope.
Mets approached Andrew about the potential lighting installation, wanting to ensure that Titan Fi

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UK - Lighting designer Matt Tyler used Prolights LED fixtures to provide lighting for space-age performances by Orbital, Public Service Broadcasting and The Radiophonic Workshop at Apollo 50, a one-off event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing.
Held at Cornwall’s Goonhilly Earth Station to celebrate the technological accomplishment of the Arthur satellite dish, which in 1969 beamed the moon landing footage live to 200m people in Europe, the anniversary was marked with a day of music, science, art and culture.
For the evening’s triple-bill concert, Matt drew upon the technological advancements of Prolights’ LED fixtures to deliver spectacular lighting to bring the artists’ space-age themes and sampled astronaut voice recordings to life. Matt utilised his own stock of Prolights Luma700, Diamond19 and Studiocobfc PARs to create the dynamic

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Switzerland - Ayrton has appointed menzi ebz of Horgen to its international distributor network.
From 15 September, menzi ebz will exclusively distribute and support the full Ayrton range of LED lighting fixtures across all three language areas of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. Clients can still contact Ayrton’s current distributor, cast Switzerland AG, until the end of 2019.
To introduce the French lighting brand to its customers, menzi ebz is holding an open day at its head offices on Tuesday, 17 September, with members of the Ayrton team also attending.
Marco Menzi, CEO of menzi ebz, comments: “We aim to have the industry’s leading brands in our portfolio and pride ourselves on working closely with our customers with a focus on service and support. For this reason, we consider the partnership with Ayrton a perfect match. Ayrton is a

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Europe - With his Lederhosen and accordion, Austria’s Andreas Gabalier sold out all eight stadiums on his summer tour of Germany celebrating 10 years of his Volks-Rock’n’Roll music. While the audience energy was high, actual energy consumption was lower, due to the High End Systems LED fixtures.
Lighting design team Michael Mayler and Andreas Fink collaborated to create a design that fits the requirements for a huge stadium tour, but simplified for the tight time schedule for building and setup. Part of the plan was to reduce their power needs without sacrificing powerful production looks.
The two turned to High End Systems’ product line and chose 38 SolaHyBeam 2000s, 36 SolaFrame 1500s and 32 Shapeshifters to fit their lighting needs. “When the LED fixtures are off, they are off, not like with discharge lamps which are still drawing power,” Mayler notes.

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South Africa - Technical equipment supplier Stage Effects has acquired 24 Robin 600+ LEDWash fixtures from DWR Distribution.
Theo Papenfus, the owner of Stage Effects, explains that when he was contracted for two long-running events it made more sense to purchase new gear than to hire in additional equipment.
“We were hunting for a mid-range fixture and thought that the Robin 600+ would be a good investment,” he says. “When shopping around we found that cross rentals would be much easier if we went for the LEDWash 600 or the 600+. International riders are very demanding when it comes to quantities and lighting designers regularly specify the medium range washes.”
“The Robin 600+ is small, compact, powerful and lightweight saving on truck space due to four units fitting into one small flight case.”
(Jim Evans)

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The Netherlands - Luxor Live is a music and performance venue in central Arnhem, the Netherlands with a colourful history that started in 1915 when it was opened as a film theatre. Architect Willem Diehl was responsible for its art deco look and features, which has also earned it ‘listed’ status. It was purchased by the Municipality of Arnhem in 2002, fully renovated and re-opened in its current format in 2008.
Last year a serious investment in Robe moving lights saw 12 Spiiders, 12 DL4X Spots, eight LEDBeam 150s and four DL4F Fresnels join the lighting rig to help ensure that the 300-plus shows staged there every year can benefit from top quality LED moving lights, explained head of lighting Fon Sanders.
The main hall capacity is a cosy 700 including the balcony, and the stage is scalloped out of an elegantly curved auditorium which features an individually pixel

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Austria - It is one of the major cultural highlights of the city of Vienna: the Summer Night Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic. Since 2004, the Klassik-Open-Air has attracted tens of thousands of music lovers each year to the Schönbrunn Palace Gardens. This year's concert, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, took place on 20 June in front of around 85,000 people. In addition, the concert was broadcast by public service broadcaster ORF.
For the second time, Jerry Appelt, was responsible for the lighting design. "The Vienna Philharmonic itself suggested the somewhat contemporary implementation of the concert,” he states. “I think that's very brave and I'm glad that concept suited both them and us.”
In 2019, the large, arched-roof platform was again positioned directly in front of the castle, while the audience in the garden spread out between the ornamental flo

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Costa Rica - Colegio Humboldt is an international school in San José, Costa Rica, that serves preschool through secondary students. The school was founded in 1912 by Germans and emphasises a German-based education, Humboldt is also known for its profusion of extra-curricular activities. The school recently built a new performing arts space to further its programme, Auditorio Humboldt, a multi-purpose auditorium outfitted with Elation Professional luminaires.
Auditorio Humboldt is a modern, 238-capacity space where students conduct recitals and perform all manner of dance, music, theatre and debate. It houses top-of-the-line AV equipment with specialised technical personnel to provide support.
Elation dealer and distributor for Costa Rica, Darko Lighting of San José, completed the lighting project. They supplied, designed and installed new stage and architectural lig

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UK - The Television judging panel for The Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has revealed the 2019 shortlist for the Television category.
The judges were television editor for The Times James Jackson, critic for FT Weekend Susie Feay, art director and production designer Fleur Whitlock, lighting director John O'Brien, lighting designer and programmer Ross Williams, and television critic for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan. The meeting was led by lighting designer and longstanding KOI chair, Stuart Gain of the Society of Television Lighting and Design (STLD).

The shortlist is as follows:
The DTS Award for Events
Philip Brines for Proms in the Park Belfast 2018
David Gibson for BBC Football World Cup 2018, Russia
Tim Routledge for Stormzy at Glastonbury 2019

The Altman Lighting Award for Small Producti

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USA - On his current tour, Grammy-nominated Chris Young is being supported by a light and video show that is pointed emphatically toward the future. “We do have moments for sure when everything settles and there’s a nice solid traditional look, but overall we pushed things the other way toward pretty advanced technology,” said Chris Lisle of CLLD, who designed the forward-looking show for Young’s Raised On Country tour, using a rig supplied by Bandit Lites.
A key contributor to Lisle’s fluid and dynamic design for the 28-city summer tour, which runs through 14 September, are the 60 Chauvet Professional Maverick MK Pyxis fixtures in his rig. Positioned 10-apiece in six square automated truss pods that move throughout the show, the RGBW fixtures provide a steady stream of multi-faceted looks, thanks to their continuous 360° pan and tilt movement and outer rim of 15

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Europe - Lighting designers Roland Greil & Patrick Woodroffe of Woodroffe Bassett Design specified over 100 Chroma-Q Color Force II LED battens to provide effects lighting for Rammstein’s European stadium tour 2019.
The German industrial metal band’s first-ever stadium tour - which sees them play 31 European dates this summer to promote their number one self-titled studio album - further ups the ante on their explosive and ground-breaking live shows.
Working in collaboration with production designer, Florian Wieder; production director Nicolai Sabottka; lighting directors Faren Matern & Marc Brunkhardt; and set designer, Cuno Hahn, Woodroffe Bassett Design created a distinctive lighting concept which works hand in hand with the overall production design.
Adopting a theatrical approach, the contrasting scenes range from bold industrial looks fitting R

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UK - PLASA has announced its line-up of seminar sessions in the run up to the PLASA Show 2019 (15-17 September, London Olympia).
In collaboration with top industry figures and brands, the programme will feature an array of creative achievements as well as advice on salient industry issues.
Pro audio journalist and consultant Phil Ward will lead a panel of industry figureheads - Chris Hill from Wigwam, Jim Griffiths from Vanguardia and Steve Jones from d&b audiotechnik - in ‘Equal rights for audio!’ They will assess how live performances, including the recent Spice Girls reunion tour, can neglect audio in the rush for spectacular video, lighting and set design.
Moving from concerts to theatre, Shure will present the future of audio for theatre productions, in association with Curtain Call. This panel will explore how the advancement of microphone technolo

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USA - Rascal Flatts is out headlining the Summer Playlist Tour with a lighting package provided by Bandit Lites. With the trio celebrating their 20th anniversary next year, lighting designer Travis Shirley looked to fashion a fresh design that both honoured their two decades of touring and reinvented what audiences expect from a Rascal Flatts performance.
“These guys are legends,” says Shirley. “They have done it all before: arenas, stadiums, gig shows, small shows, etc. They were looking for something fresh; something that brought the Flatts performance a bit more in the ‘spotlight.’”
“It has been an honour to work with Rascal Flatts for almost two decades,” said Bandit Lites vice president Mike Golden,” and while I have also known Travis Shirley for that length of time, I had never had the opportunity to work with him until now. From the moment I
  1. Avraham Tal turns electronic with Robe
  2. Rosalia makes tour debut with Claypaky
  3. Chauvet in the mix for Grimbergen celebration
  4. TechLED and 4-Wall prepare ASDA for Pride
  5. VES rocks Open’er Festival’s’ Beat Stage
  6. Elation extends Fuse LED wash series
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