Lighting

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07 January 2025

Columbia - Esteban Gil Arcila, professionally known as Esteban Tosta, has risen to become a well-recognised reference in the lighting design community of South America. Working alongside stars like Colombian singer Maluma, Esteban turns to Elation’s new lighting technology to fulfil his clients’ vision and create stunning visual experiences that enhance their performances.

“Every show we imagine is tied to the type of equipment we use,” he says, adding, “That’s why the constant innovation of brands, offering new equipment and fresh ideas, is key. This not only facilitates the design but also allows for testing and experimenting with new setups, which boosts confidence when integrating them into the riders.”

Early in his career, working for one of Medellín’s biggest production companies, Genesis Producciones, gave him the chance to wo

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06 January 2025

UAE - Netherlands-based manufacturer ELC Lighting has announced the appointment of Sonic Evolution FZC as the new exclusive distributor for both its brands, ELC and Green-GO, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Based in Sharjah, Sonic Evolution FZC is now set to provide both of ELC Lighting’s award-winning product ranges – the ELC range of DMX-over-IP lighting control products and the Green-GO family of digital wireless intercom solutions – to its customer base throughout the UAE.

A distributor of specialist technologies for the professional production industry, Sonic Evolution was set up just last year by India-born Dr. Rajesh Khade (an actual medical doctor, as well as a drummer and live sound engineer) and his partner Arnold Coelho (an audio and mechanical engineer) to provide targeted technical solutions to entertainment production professio

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06 January 2025

Poland - Australian manufacturer LSC Control Systems has welcomed Prolight, a well-known provider of professional lighting equipment and services, as its new exclusive distributor for Poland.

Founded in 1996, Prolight has built a leading position in the Polish market and is now looking forward to providing its customers with access to LSC’s innovative range of power and data management products, all of which are designed and manufactured in Melbourne, Australia.

As well as representing a portfolio of leading brands in the fields of lighting, multimedia, and stage technology, Prolight provides services including maintenance, installation and training.

Kacper Rzeczkowski of Prolight believes the LSC range brings important synergies to its offering. He says: “Since its acquisition by Robe Lighting, awareness of LSC in Poland has significantl

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06 January 2025

Denmark - Travel up the Jutland peninsula to Denmark’s northwest coast and you find one of the country’s largest and most popular amusement parks, Fårup Sommerland. The park showcases a popular light festival each autumn, Lysfald, which this year ran for 16 days in October and attracted over 12,500 guests per day.

Pivotal in ensuring that the lighting installation ran smoothly were Netron EN6 IP nodes, award-winning data distribution devices by Obsidian Control Systems that played a critical role in managing the large-scale, synchronised lighting display.

Fårup Sommerland is home to seven roller coasters and the country’s largest amusement park water park. Four years ago, in collaboration with AV solutions provider Profox, the park sought to extend its season into the autumn by creating a new attraction – an immersive, park-wide li

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06 January 2025

Spain - Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi is the largest indoor arena in Spain, but even this sleek 18,000-capacity venue couldn't contain all the energy and excitement generated by the 19th edition of the annual Los 40 Music Awards held there this November.

First there was the music: with 17 international artists performing 40 songs, the ceremony celebrated virtually every facet of Latin and urban music. There were also the awards presentations – and this year an extra dimension, as Los 40 served as a telethon, partnering with The Red Cross to raise money for those affected by the 2024 Spanish floods.

Designer Alain Corthout with help from operator Timothy Demets supported the various dimensions of Los 40 by serving up a range of lighting looks that were equally at home pulsating to the music of performers like Rauw Alejandro, Ana Mena, Lola Índigo,

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06 January 2025

Mexico - The newly inaugurated Potosí Arena stands as a symbol of innovation in support of culture. With a capacity of over 20,000 people, this venue is set to host concerts by national and international artists and various sports and cultural events. The governor of San Luis Potosí, Ricardo Gallardo, officiated the opening of this new space, which is expected to boost the city's tourism and economic appeal after 23 years without a venue of this scale.

The construction of the Potosí Arena took approximately 22 months and involved more than 4,000 tons of steel. This arena was designed and built entirely by engineers and architects from the University of San Luis Potosí, making it a testament to the ingenuity and capability of its local talent.

The lighting system installation played a key role in the arena's opening, combining advanced technology

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06 January 2025

UK - Blue Thunder Sound provided full production for the London Film Music Orchestra concert at St Paul's Cathedral, using over 200 lighting fixtures, including 102 Prolights Smart Bat units.

Blue Thunder Sound strategically placed the lighting fixtures to enhance the architectural features of the cathedral, minimising cable runs by employing wireless signals for lighting and audio control. The setup focused on achieving stunning stage effects without the use of haze machines, utilising the power of the Smart Bat to create an immersive visual experience that highlighted the historical beauty of the structure.

"The Prolights lighting system played a crucial role in transforming St Paul's Cathedral into an immersive space, emphasising every architectural detail with extraordinary precision," commented the Blue Thunder Sound team. "Thanks to the flexibi

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06 January 2025

USA - The McAllen Holiday Parade presented by H-E-B helped kick off the festive season in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. This nighttime holiday parade featured over 60 illuminated floats, 38 larger-than-life character helium balloons, 16 school bands and dance teams, and appearances by international and local celebrities.

The 2024 theme, Noche Mágica (Magical Night), was hosted by TV personalities Mario Lopez and Julian Gil, with special guest appearances by players from the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

This year’s parade drew over 265,000 attendees along the 1.5-mile route, with over a million more television viewers. It began at the McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, where spectators of all ages filled the stands for an evening of entertainment.

When approached for the project, Jeff Krebs, presi

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06 January 2025

USA - Diana Kesselschmidt is creating a captivating setting for the Winter Village at Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan this season with a richly coloured lighting design at the popular attraction’s 17,000 sq.ft ice skating rink.

PRG supplied over 100 Chauvet Professional fixtures, including 95 Colorado 2-Quad Zoom LED Wash lights, and eight Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidal units for this transformative display.

“In addition to performance, weather resistance was key to selecting fixtures,” said Kesselschmidt, of Diana K studio. “The fixtures are out for an extended time in New York City. Also, all the cabling to the towers gets loaded in about a month ahead of time, before the deck is put in, so there is no access to those cables once the deck is in place. Some years we focus outdoors during a hurricane. Many years I have focused on full weather g

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06 January 2025

Germany - For more than 40 years, Germany's Wige Solutions has been providing companies with event technology for corporate events, as well as advanced broadcast solutions, dynamic live graphics, and millisecond-precise timing for sporting events. To achieve this, the company operates its own digital studios at its headquarters in Bonn-Meckenheim, equipped with live control systems and specialized, high-speed cameras.

The company often works on-location and its on-site teams have found Elation’s KL series of full-colour, high-CRI LED Fresnel lights to offer the flexibility needed to meet a wide range of on-camera requirements. After years of successfully using the popular KL Panel, Wige Solutions expanded its inventory in early summer by adding Elation’s KL Fresnel 8 FC, a powerful full-colour softlight featuring a 500W RGBMA engine. They then sought a s

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06 January 2025

UK/Ireland - Entedi closed out the year with major announcements that set the stage for continued growth in 2025 and beyond, including an expanding team and the announcement of a new Board of Directors.

Founder Cally Bacchus reflected on the year, saying: “2024 was a whirlwind of everything I love about this industry. Our team has grown, our partners continue to amaze us with their boundary-pushing innovations, and we’re thrilled to be backing the next generation of industry talent through our technical partnership at RADA.

“I’m delighted to announce some key updates to our team and the launch of our Board of Directors to guide us into this exciting new chapter." Cally Bacchus will step into the role of CEO; Erik Lynas will become managing director; and Marcel Wijnberger will transition to technical director.

“These changes in our s

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20 December 2024

UAE - Prolights fixtures shone brightly over the Swan Lake on Ice performance by The Imperial Ice Stars, held at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation. The award-winning show captivated audiences, blending Tchaikovsky's timeless music with breathtaking visual displays on ice. Lighting, designed by Level Production, played a crucial role in creating a visually stunning atmosphere on the skating rink.

For the lighting setup, Level Production collaborated with Pro Lab, the Prolights distributor for the MEDA region, selecting a range of fixtures that included Astra Wash19Pix, Astra Hybrid420, and RA2000HB Profiles from Prolights. These fixtures were chosen for their exceptional versatility, delivering the perfect balance of lighting power, colour precision, and creative flexibility. This ensured a uniform illumination across the entire rink, enhancing the v

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20 December 2024

USA - The Latin Grammy Awards celebrated its 25th anniversary in a big way on 14 November, putting on a glittering show that was impressive even by the exalted standards of awards festivals. Every genre in the galaxy of Latin music shined at Miami’s Kaseya Centre, which resonated with performances by Marc Anthony, Pitbull, Eladio Carrión, Becky G, Sivia, DJ Khalid, Luis Fonsi, Jon Bon Jovi, and multiple other artists.

For Tom Kenny and the rest of the lighting team (LDs David Convertino, Felix Peralta and Joseph Vineyard), creating distinctive looks that reflected the individual musical personas of all these performers in the three-hour live broadcast show represented a challenge.

"We had to come up with a lot of looks over the course of the show, so the flexibility of our rig was key," said Peralta. "We usually end up doing 18 to 25 music perform

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20 December 2024

USA - TobyMac, MercyMe and Zach Williams, three of Christian music’s most popular acts, teamed up for a concert tour illuminated with Bandit Lites.

“When we had the dream of bringing these artists together, we knew it would be big, but we had no idea just how big,” shares Dan Fife, president and founder of Awakening Events. “The response was unprecedented and the demand from fans for more dates was impossible to ignore.”

“Being a huge fan of all three of these acts made a challenging opportunity a lot of fun,” said client representative Allen Deneau. “All three camps are absolute professionals and very easy to work with, which made the process much easier. Putting together a great lighting rig to accommodate three headline acts, on the same stage, is not always easy but, their willingness to entertain options and suggestions was just

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20 December 2024

USA - Robe Lighting enjoyed the pre-holiday buzz in the air at LDI 2024 in Las Vegas, ‘wowing’ crowds with a new live performance stage production, The Fifth Dimension, which helped win the Most Creative Use of Light Award at the show.

Over three action-packed days, Robe launched two new products – the LedPointe and the T.5 Profile – and showcased several other new lighting fixtures for the first time at a US trade show, including iBolt which has just been approved and is available for US and Canadian markets.

Additionally, the company, its friends, colleagues, and team members celebrated the life and legacy of industry icon Craig Burross in a special tribute hour after the first day.

In addition to LEDPointe and the T.5 profile, four other new Robe products – the iForte Fresnel, the Painte Fresnel, the Svopatt, an

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20 December 2024

USA - From a showstopping light show that attracted eager crowds to Elation’s next frontier booth experience, to product debuts capped by a Best Debuting Product Award for Paragon, the company’s new class of LED profile luminaires, LDI 2024 was a major success for Elation.

Elation welcomed lighting professionals to Experience Tomorrow at LDI in Las Vegas through an immersive journey that spanned from the show entrance to the retro-futuristic Elation booth and the dynamic Battle of the Busk stage, all enhanced by an interactive digital campaign.

“LDI 2024 was a defining moment for Elation,” stated Eric Loader, global vice-president of sales at Elation. “We showcased our commitment to innovation and the future of lighting like never before, and the response was phenomenal. From the stunning debut of the Paragon Seri

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19 December 2024

Finland - The rock-band sound of Finnish favourites Apulanta met the sweeping strings of the Sinfonia Lahti for a series of special concerts recently – with a stage-wide, wraparound LED backdrop powered by tvONE's Green Hippo brand of Hippotizer Media Servers.

Taking place at the city of Tampere’s 15,000-capacity Nokia Arena, the two-night extravaganza drew fans of Apulanta – one of Finland’s most popular groups – to experience the fusion of rock and symphony. New-kid-on-the-block Avantrum Visuals designed and delivered the visual elements of the show, including stage, lighting, video design and live camera feed storyboarding, and lighting programming and operation.

“At the very early stages, when designing the looks for each song, we were already imagining how we could utilise Hippotizer’s possibilities to deliver something special for

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19 December 2024

UK - Alton Towers Resort hosts its annual end-of-season fireworks extravaganza every November.

This year, lighting designer Olly Suckling, now in his eighth year working on the Alton Towers Resort Fireworks, elevated the display to new heights with a bold and vivid lighting design. His creation not only supported the pyrotechnic display but also built a cohesive visual architecture, connecting the spectacle more intimately with the large and appreciative audience.

Running his light show on two ChamSys MagicQ MQ250M Stadium consoles and a Mini Connect system, Suckling delivered a design that complemented every step of the fireworks display. By arranging much of his rig in horizontal rows of fixtures, he was able to create sweeping movements of light that extended from the main stage out to the larger left and right structures.

“The story beh

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19 December 2024

USA - Chauvet Professional built its LDI exhibit around the theme of Revealing Our True Colours. And true to form, evidence of the company's colour rendering prowess was everywhere in its immersive booth, which featured a design by Gigi Pedron. A pair of notable examples of this capability could be seen in new additions to the successful Maverick Storm and Strike series of fixtures.

The Maverick Storm 1 Flex and Strike V both build on the highly regarded reputations of their namesake series in terms of output and performance. Both fixtures also incorporate impressive new features that made them much talked about on the LDI show floor.

With the Maverick Storm 1 Flex, designers can enjoy the flexibility of a multi-functional unit alongside the reliability of advanced LED technology. Sharp beams and dynamic effects, CMY+CTO colour mixing, a tig

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18 December 2024

Austria - 80 of Robe’s most powerful moving light fixtures – iBolt, iForte and iForte LTX – were used to great effect for a lighting scheme designed by Thomas Maier from event production company NoiseGate Eventtechnik to illuminate a special performance show celebrating the completion of the 305m-wide Danube Valley suspension bridge – Donautalbrücke – in Linz, Austria.

NoiseGate was working for event creative agency Brandmood who produced the show for its end client, ASFINAG Bau Management, the organisation that manages the country’s nationwide autobahns system. The artistic director was Beda Percht.

The steel-reinforced concrete composite bridge is part of a new four-lane western bypass on the A26 autobahn spanning the Danube, railroad tracks and two main roads while circumnavigating the city of Linz. Its main cables are 500m long, and

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18 December 2024

UK - At the Annual Lighting Lunch held on Monday 16 December, the Association for Lighting Production and Design (the ALPD) awarded four new fellowships to Peter Hunter, Steve Huttly, Nick Peel and Alan Luxford.

Introducing the new fellows, chair of the ALPD, Johanna Town, said: “This year our ALPD fellowships go to four very dedicated lighting individuals, who have spent a lifetime’s career in our amazing industry.”

Peter Hunter: After training at LAMDA Hunter spent a season at Chichester, before moving to the Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, where he rose to become chief electrician. In 1980 he moved to Salisbury Playhouse as lighting designer and chief electrician. Now retired, he continues to be generous with his time, knowledge and support of the next generation.

Steve Huttly: Huttly started his career i

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18 December 2024

Germany - The 21st season of the talent show Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar (DSDS) recently reached its finale with victory for Christian Jährig. At the same time, 24 of GLP’s new Creos fixtures enjoyed one of their first-ever TV appearances.

The production design of the long-running TV hit was once again developed by DK Design. Sebastian Huwig created the lighting design and planning for the finale on behalf of David Kreileman.

The new LED washlights, with fast, motorised tilt, were used together with other spotlights as a second light level on rolling risers, so that new lighting atmospheres could be created for each act. The modifications took place during the filming.

This time, the team chose not to use the option of seamlessly combining several Creos into huge LED bars, using the integrated connector system. Explai

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18 December 2024

Belgium - The Royal Conservatory of Antwerp has upgraded its lighting infrastructure with a Unity solution from LSC Control Systems, drawing on the experience of its partner facility – and one of Europe’s leading performing arts venues – De Singel.

Undertaking a full renovation of its Zwarte Zaal (Black Hall) – including new grid, cabling, patch racks, audio, data, video and lighting – led by main construction contractor Co-Ps, the Royal Conservatory insisted on quality, reliability and safety. To achieve this with new lighting infrastructure, they turned to De Singel, expert consultant Roadtech Services, and the technology of LSC Control Systems.

It was way back in 2018 that De Singel installed a Unity system from LSC in its main auditorium. At the time, the busy venue was having difficulty dealing with large amounts of varying types of li

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17 December 2024

Europe - The Showlight Student Sponsorship deadline is approaching. Applications close on Friday 31 January 2025. The scheme is open to students and recent graduates of lighting for the performing arts, events, broadcast, film and architecture.

Successful applicants enjoy free-of-charge entry to Showlight 2025, with access to the full Programme of Papers, admission to the exhibition of major lighting equipment manufacturers, networking opportunities during the daily breaks and lunch, as well as a place at one of the Company Dinners on the Tuesday evening and the Conference Dinner on Wednesday evening. Around 30 places are available but spaces are filling up fast.

Former Showlight student participant and presenter of Sweeney Todd – A Site Specific Experience, Amy Mae Smith, comments: “Showlight is an inspiring few days where you