International News

AARHUS, Denmark – LD Palle Palme is the first to use Martin Professional’s MAC Aura in Thaland. Palme chose 18 Auras to make his own magic in the rig for Swedish magician Joe Labero. The magic show entertains five nights per week, two shows per night, requiring a stable lighting rig, Palme says. Orange Events in Kuala Lumpur supplied the gear.

MIDDLETON, WI – With seven stages but few on the lighting staff, Helsinki Music Centre turned to three ETC Unison Paradigms to integrate its lighting control. They wanted non-technical persons – such as orchestra members, stage managers and even music students – to be able to use the show lighting in the halls for rehearsals and concerts.

HEIDELBERG, Germany – Designer Gunther Hecker put Germany’s hip hop band back on the map with his latest set, lighting and visual design for Die Fantastischen Vier, aka Fanta 4. The band just finished their sold-out arena tour with their in-the-round and over the top production.

ORLANDO – A new blacklight dolphin show entertains visitors two to five times per day at the Dolfinarium in The Netherlands. Alcorn McBride products play a central role in the new show, where a V4 Pro, Video Binloop and LightCue system are used for show control and AV sourcing.

AARHUS, Denmark – Russian band DDT toured across Russia, former Soviet countries and Europe in 2011 and continue into 2012 with a Martin rig. Stage and lighting designer Andrejs Dubkovs of Lumen Art Division spec’d MAC III series and MAC 2000 series fixtures along with MAC 700 Washes and MAC 301 Wash luminaires.

LONDON – TheatreCraft 2011 is an annual free workshop and open day for a “behind the curtain” view of the entertainment industry. White Light was the lead sponsor, held Nov. 28 at the London Coliseum. Visitors aged 17-25 were able to learn from experts in their fields on a variety of aspects of the industry, from writing to wig making, with lighting in between.

AUSTIN, TX – Austrian artists Nik P. and Andreas Gabalier performed a sold-out tour of Germany with 10 of High End Systems’ new Technospot automated luminaires taking center stage. Two DL.3 digital lights, two Showpix and two StudioPix LED graphic display fixtures and 10 Studio Beam automated luminaires rounded out the equipment package, controlled with a Road Hog Full Boar and Wing.

SERIATE, Italy – Kaiser Showtechnik recently purchased Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500 lights to illuminate Augsburg, Germany’s town hall. Alpha Beam 700s and Sharpys were also used on the temporary display which featured Augsburg’s football team colors on the night of their final game.

REGGIO EMILIA, Italy – Entertainment group No Saints has added SGM lighting products to its string of four Wonder-branded nightclubs in the UK. Cosmic Electronics installed the equipment, including 10 new SGM X-5 white LED strobes and a quantity of SGM moving heads.

MASCOT, Australia – An ETC EOS console is controlling a production of Moby Dick for The State Opera of South Australia. The show is the same show theatrical LD Don Holder originally designed for the Dallas Opera. Holder, unable to make the trip to Australia to oversee the replication, called on associate Gavan Swift to oversee the process. Jands provided an EOS 4000 console, which Swift found easy to work with.

LIVERPOOL, UK – ADLIB finished out the year supplying lighting, sound equipment and crew to the final leg of comedian Russell Howard’s “Right Here Right Now” UK arena tour. ADLIB’s LD Ian Tomlinson designed the tour’s lighting. With just Howard and a single chair onstage, the challenge was on to make it an intimate and friendly environment for the delivery of a comedy show in a series of larger venues.

LONDON – HSL supplied the lighting equipment to the 2011 British Military Tournament at Earls Court in London. LD Steve Sinclair’s design required a big rig to showcase a presentation from a cast of 700 troops, armed forces bands and 100 horses. The horses presented a special challenge: lighting had to be angled and positioned so as not to spook them with shadows or other effects.