International News

LONDON — When the time came to create the setting for Sarah Brightman’s Symphony tour, the soprano’s design team turned to Tomcat for custom stage components. The tour kicked off last fall with dates throughout North America and played a series of dates across Asia through April 2009. 

COLOGNE, Germany — For the finale of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS), a TV talent show featuring vocalists from Germany that has completed five seasons, six of the 30 GLP Impression XL luminaires sported a chrome finish.

WARSAW, IN — Da-Lite Screen Company promoted Matthew Teevan to the position of vice president of European corporate operations.  In his new position, Teevan will be managing director of Projecta in the Netherlands and managing director of Procolor in France.  In addition, Mr. Teevan will be responsible for Da-Lite’s sales in Europe.

VILNIUS, Lithuania — White Light and theatre owner ATG have been phasing out the Strand 500-series lighting consoles used for ATG’s U.K. venues, replacing them with ETC’s Eos and Ion consoles. But if the plan called for the older consoles to be used for rentals and parts, at least one of the units has been put to full-time work again for a Lithuanian production of Sweeney Todd.

LONDON — The European tour supporting Pink’s fifth album, Funhouse, featured a set design by Mark Fisher of Stufish and lighting and show direction by Baz Halpin, with sets manufactured by Brilliant Stages. XL Video UK supplied cameras, PPU, LED surfaces, media servers and projection.

LONDON — LD Jonathan “Leggy” Armstrong upped his count of i-Pix BB7 LED wash lights from 19 to 35 for Bloc Party’s two shows at London Olympia, part of a world tour that kicked off in January.

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — LD Martin Kubanka used Robe moving lights and REDBlinders for the live TV show that selected who would represent Slovakia at the 2009 Eurovision song contest later this month. The show was staged at Slovakian Television headquarters and broadcast live on STV1.

SANDNESSJØEN, Norway — A Medialon Manager Show & Media Control system has been integrated in the Petter Dass Museum in this city in northern Norway. The museum, which tells the story of Petter Dass, a 17th century Norwegian clergyman and poet, was designed by the architect Snøhetta.

CAMBRIDGE, U.K. —Noise Ensemble, a percussion group, toured the U.K. with 30 SGM Idea 250 moving lights supplied by Snap To Black, the tour’s supplier of lighting, AV, crew and production management. The purchase was made through SGM’s U.K. distributor, Lightfactor Sales.

LONDON — Elaine Paige, known as the “First Lady of British Musical Theatre,” took to the road for her recent U.K. tour marking 40 years since her stage debut. LD Martin Nicholas lit the tour using new Martin gear supplied by Amber Lites of Scotland.

PULA, Croatia — Robe’s Robin products, introduced at ProLight + Sound in Frankfurt, have been spotted in other countries as well, including Croatian distributor Sali Trade’s third annual Open Day. The event was staged at the Dom Hrvatskih Branitelju (House of the Croatian Army).

LAS VEGAS —The Killers’ Day & Age world tour is knocking off some big visuals with 2,852 square feet of video effect backdrop created by Chroma-Q™ Color Web™ 125 LED panels. Tour LD Steven Douglas saw the semi-transparent video surface as a way to enhance the band’s performance rather than detract from it.