International News

BRISTOL, UK – Stage Electrics has been awarded the contract for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s new £89 million Milton Court site in the City of London.  The School will house a new concert hall, drama theatre, studio theatre, TV studio and rehearsal rooms. The project begins this month with the grand opening set for fall 2013.

LONDON – High House Production Park recently launched their display of a series of sculptures across the 14-acre site. White Light had its four lighting apprentices take charge of the lighting design, using a variety of the equipment in their inventory. The sculpture display is ongoing until March 19.

Bergamo, Italy – Ukrainian TV show, “Star Factory,” is in its fourth season with a complement of Clay Paky Sharpys. Maxim Balashov, technical director, LD and a founder of ALIGHT, selected Clay Paky Sharpys to raise the bar on TV lighting production. ALIGHT has inked deals with leading Ukraine TV networks to provide lighting services that require it to continually upgrade its technical equipment base.

LONDON – LD Andrew Bridge used the Royal Albert Hall’s (RAH) stock of Philips Vari-Lite automated luminaires – specifically the VARI-LITE VL3000 and VL3500 Spot and Wash luminaires – as the workhose on the opera ‘Aida.’ Bridge, who has been a longtime user of the luminaires, has won the three Tony Awards for Best Lighting Design.

AARHUS, Denmark – At 78 degrees north latitude, Longyearbyen lacks sunlight for almost four months of the year. Tor-Gunnar “Gusche” Stokke of Stokken Lys created a lighting scheme that would release a Norwegian cultural landmark from its winter obscurity. He chose the Martin Professional Exterior 400 RGBW LED wash light to simulate natural sunlight onto the building, complete with the color temperature changes that would normally occur from dawn to dusk.

LOS ANGELES – Smashing Pumpkins’ LD Lawrence Upton for the first time used GLP’s Volkslicht Zoom LED heads in his design for the band’s recent tour. In this context they were used to replace the traditional discharge wash light on a scalable set — designed to enable sections to be removed, depending on venue size, without sacrificing the dynamic.

LONDON – LD Scott Warner used a selection of Robe’s latest fixtures on the recent sold-out  UK/European tour with Nicole Scherzinger. Warner first worked with Scherzinger when she was a member of the Pussycat Dolls seven years ago, and he continues on with her solo work. He’s used Robe products for the past five years.

AARHUS, Denmark – LD Jo Campana is a “one man band” when it comes to designing and lighting/operating a show for Italian rock band Negrita. For this recent run, he chose a Martin MAC rig that included the new MAC Aura.

Bergamo, ITALY  – Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures are making their mark on the Evanescence world tour. LD Dan Hardiman is using more than a dozen Sharpys as upstage floor lights for aerial effects and to back light the band.  The band does not like strong key light and is kept fairly moody,  a look that Hardiman balances with intensive moving light effects.

LONDON – Women in Stage Entertainment (WISE) is hosting a professional seminar for young women considering a career in the entertainment technology industry. WiSE’s seminar entitled “Women Making Their Mark in the Theatre Industry” will be held March 9 at 12:30 pm in the seminar room of The Grand Hall in Olympia, London, in conjunction with the Perform 2012 theatre conference.

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