International News

BERGAMO, ITALY – The historic stage of the foremost Russian theatre has reopened after six years of renovation and restoration. Clay Paky’s Russian distributor DOKA played a key role in renovating the Bolshoi Theatre starting in 2005. Much of the equipment installed was manufactured by Clay Paky, featuring more than 350 moving heads, projectors and color changers, as spec’d by the Bolshoi’s chief LD, Damir Ismagilov.

BERGAMO, ITALY – The 62nd Italian Song Festival in Sanremo was as much a festival of Clay Paky lighting as it was for music. Sharpys, Alpha Spot HPE 1500s and Alpha Spot HPE 1200s dominated the set, designed by Gaetano Castelli.

BERGAMO, Italy – Danish LD Kasper Christiansen of VisuaLies chose Clay Paky Shotlight Washes and Alpha Profile 1500s to for punk band Sort Sol’s recent Danish tour. AED Rent supplied the fixtures to Denmark’s Victory Tour Productions, which was the tour lighting vendor.

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – Black Coffee were awarded technical supplier for the Fourth SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards, held at the Durban International Convention Centre. LD Michael Broderick was nervous and excited about his first time to venture into television lighting – but no need to worry, as the grandMA2 light ran flawlessly.

MACAU, China – LD Matt Levesque chose 95 Iluminarc wash lights to enhance the MGM Macau’s domed courtyard, the Grand Praca. Color-changing Ilumipanel 180 IP wash lights are used to downlight and sidelight the plaza’s manicured landscape, pathways and the building facades surrounding it. They are also put into use during special live performances and events.

LONDON – LD Tom Kinane used Robe LEDWash 600 moving lights to highlight the set of the BBC’s popular quiz show “Pointless.” A crucial factor in Kinane’s choice of LEDWash 600 was that the LED lightsource was flicker-free for the cameras.

PERTH, Australia – Perth’s Concert & Corporate Productions (CCP)  has had a busy summer, but General Manager Sean McKernan, CCP had geared up for the season by purchasing eight Jands HPC12 dimmers. “Basically we run them as 48-way racks so you can tell them to be dimmer or distro,” said McKernan. “Now we can just send out one rack and any channel can be anything we require…It makes life so much easier and quicker for our crew.”

WEST SUSSEX, UK – Creative Technology (CT) set the scene for the backdrop to The Voice, which premiered March 24 on the BBC. Alongside production designer Julian Healy,  CT had a three day time frame to rig the LED screens as backdrops and floor covering. The main set screen was comprised of 30 sq. meters of Chromatek Black Faced 6mm LED screen. Beneath the artists’ feet is another 30 sq. meters of Flyer 12mm display to provide graphics and media content to further intensity the set design.

GLADSTONE, Queensland – Gladstone Entertainment Centre has installed six VARI-LITE VL3500 Spot luminaires from Philips Vari-Lite to keep their existing VL500 Washes company. Supplied by Rockhampton’s Stage & Audio, the fixtures are permanently rigged on the FOH lighting bar.

FRANKFURT, Germany — PRG (Production Resource Group), the leading provider of event technology for live events and TV productions around the world, got the opportunity to showcase its products and services at Prolight + Sound’s Festhalle from March 21-24, 2012. The Festhalle was also the venue for the official opening night PRG Live Entertainment Award (PRG LEA) on March 20.