International News

SUZHOU, China — Pei Partnership Architects of New York selected Lightswitch Architectural to light the Bank of China’s International Finance Tower in Suzhou, China.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Kylie Minogue’s 77-date, six-month Aphrodite – Les Folies World Tour 2011 visited 28 countries before wrapping up recently. The tour’s lighting, video and sound supplier for the European and North American legs, Solotech, provided MDG’s TheONE and Ice Fog QTM units for atmospherics, at the request of LD, Nick Waterhouse.

COUNTY KILDARE, Ireland — Production Services Ireland (PSI) supplied lighting production, rigging, crew and technical support for the Vodafone (second) Stage at the 2011 Oxegen Festival at Punchestown Racecourse.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Rohan Thornton, head of lighting for GTV 9, has been specifying the Clay Paky Sharpy and the Alpha Spot 1500 fixtures — when they’re available, that is. “On all productions I now instantly specify 16 of each model — I would ask for more but that’s all there is available for hire,” he said, noting that “they are becoming so popular I can’t get hold of them.”

ALGHERO, Italy — For the 11th annual d’Amore e Moda (Love and Fashion) show, televised on Italian TV’s Rete 4 (Retequattro), Franchino Service provide a variety of Coemar lighting fixtures to illuminate the fashion shows that alternated between musical performances by Italy’s Roberto Vecchioni and Dolcenera.

WEST LONDON, U.K. — Entec Sound & Light coordinated the full European touring production package and sourced key crew for the recent X Japan tour in Europe, and also supplied lighting equipment.

PORT FAIRY, Australia — The Port Fairy Folk Festival, and annual showcase of an eclectic range of music genres now in its 35th year, relied upon Geelong-based Total Events for lighting, staging, transport, rigging and AV requirements.

BELGRADE, Serbia — Newly-crowned Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic drew close to 100,000 fans to the main square in Belgrade for a celebration of the 22-year-old Serbian tennis pro’s victory. He appeared on a stage lit by Infinity ACL S and iWash Flex fixtures from Coemar.

SANTIAGO, Chile — Teatro Municipal de Las Condes recently added Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 700E AT moving lights to its rig, supplied via Valook, Robe’s Chilean distributor, in a deal coordinated by Leo Macaya.

ROME — Vasco Rossi’s 2011 tour, Live Kom ‘011, which the Italian singer/songwriter recently announced would be his last, uses LED video — in this case, over 350 square meters of Pixled LED screen, as a key scenic element.