BRISTOL, UK — Utopium provided concert lighting systems for two recent festivals drawing crowds of music lovers to the waterfront in Bristol, U.K. — Bristol Sounds (June 21-24) and Grillstock (July 1-2).
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WUPPERTAL, Germany – The German-Israeli co-production St Matthew’s Passion 2727 is a dance oratorio choreographed by Tamir Ginz for the Kamea Dance Company, inspired by the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) by Johann Sebastian Bach. The show is produced by Bayer Arts & Culture and a co-operation between two opera houses in Leverkusen and Wuppertal in Germany and Beer-Sheva Performing Arts center in Israel. Lighting designer Yaron Abulafia was asked to add his magic and imagination to the intense performance.
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LONDON – Tony Kushner’s award-winning play, Angels in America, returns to the Royal National Theatre, marking 25 years since its U.K. debut. This production is directed by Marianne Elliott, complemented by lighting design from Paule Constable and a set designed by Ian MacNeil. The technology-laden production of the two-part epic features innovative ways of working with ETC’s Eos family of lighting control desks.
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POLAND – The recent edition of Polish Idol featured a distinctive filmic styling emanating from the visual influence of LD Artur Szyman, one of the country’s leading lighting and scenic designers, who was assisted by 96 Robe Spikies and 80 x LEDWash 800s among other lights on his plot. Artur has been an LD for 17 years and was a renowned film and TV DoP for 10 years before that. He’s known for taking creative risks and delivering new and invigorating designs, and for this show – returning to Polish national TV prime time after a 13 year break – his mission was to ensure that the lighting and scenography worked consistently from all camera perspectives.
DIEPENBEEK, BELGIUM – In his 11 years as Epica’s lighting designer, Erwin Van Lokeren has never repeated a look from song to song. Neither he nor the band would have it any other way. Never afraid to blaze their own musical path, the symphonic metal pioneers have transcended genres by pulling in wildly disparate influences from Vivaldi to Star Wars, and weaving them all into a uniquely transformative sound. Van Lokeren, who collaborates closely with two of Epica’s members Coen Janssen and Isaac Delahaye, has accentuated the band’s musical message with a ceaseless flow of compelling looks, each more unique than the next.
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SYDNEY – Mandylights has today announced the company’s expansion into the United Kingdom, with the opening of a new office headed by UK designers Liam Tully and Tom Edwards. Operating since 2006 from Sydney, Australia, Mandylights has delivered lighting, visual and production design projects in over fifty countries across touring concert, broadcast, special event, theatre and corporate markets. The company’s recent touring and Vegas residency designs for the Backstreet Boys are recent additions to an impressive list of credits including multiple tours for artists including Ricky Martin, Taio Cruz, Cats – The Musical, China’s G.E.M. and numerous others.
BELGIUM – Painting with Light renewed its long-term working collaboration with the Summer Opera at Alden Biesen, a beautiful 16th century castle in the village of Rijkhoven, Limburg, eastern Belgium … just a 20 minute drive from the creative design practice’s own HQ in Genk. Paco Mispelters from Painting with Light was tasked with lighting this year’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s well known comic opera “Don Pasquale”, celebrating 20 years since the start of the successful annual opera event. In keeping with the light-hearted and animated rhythm of the piece, Paco wanted to keep the lighting upbeat and vibrant in style and feel.
LEEK, The Netherlands – Following continued growth, Prolyte Group has solved its need for additional production capacity by expanding its new production site in Piatra Olt, Romania, which was opened in 2016. With this expansion Prolyte has completed an additional 4400 m2 production space to the already impressive facilities. Consolidating all its European manufacturing capacity into an approx. 10.000 m2 facility, Prolyte Group can boost to have one of the largest and most modern production facilities for the manufacture of truss systems. And there’s room for further growth with expansion possibilities till 16.000m2.
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SLOVENIA – Teamwork is a great thing, and this was clearly evident for Slovenia’s 2017 PopRock Festival, a high profile national TV live event broadcast from Ljubljana, where lighting designer Crt Birsa and set designer Greta Godnic worked their creative magic in a special collaboration … with the help of 200 plus Robe lighting fixtures! The PopRock Festival, now in its second year, was staged at the Gospodarsko Razstavisce exhibition centre for the first time, bringing an interesting mix of pop and rock artists and bands who had battled it out to reach the final twelve.
SWITZERLAN – Since investing in more 300 GLP X4 atoms at the end of last year, Swiss company Winkler Multi Media Events, has found that this small lamp from Karlsbad has developed into a versatile contender. The wide application possibilities range from small to large events as well as popular TV shows. Back in February this year, lighting designer Matthias Kern from broadcast service provider tpc switzerland ag used multiples of the X4 atom in gigantic matrix displays at the Swiss ESC (European Song Contest) preliminary voting round. Further assignments followed, most recently the SRF show “I’ll sing you a song” which is running for several weeks.
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VECHTA, GERMANY – As Ascension Day is a traditional day off for Germans, what better way to spend it then at “Tanta Mia tanzt,” a one-day electro dance music festival with international and regional DJs. Held in the town of Vechta in northwest Germany, Tanta Mia tanzt debuted in 2016 and was back in 2017 with a lineup of EDM and house beat artists playing across multiple stages. The all-day EDM party with its unusual name (“Aunt Mia is dancing”) attracted more than 16,000 visitors this year.
DENMARK – Holstebro Musikteatret in Denmark has invested in 24 new Robe LEDWash 600+’s which will be used throughout their facility, making the production lighting options more dynamic and flexible and saving valuable time during changeovers and technical time. The Musikteatret includes three main venues: a 1200 seater Main auditorium; the Black Box, a flexible space which can accommodate up to 1700 people standing and is where the fixtures will primarily be deployed … and The Hall of Fame bar which is also used for concerts, comedy, dining and events.