International News

JOHANNESBURG — MA Lighting’s South African distributor, DWR Distribution, ran the first of a series of grandMA Level 1 and 2 training events recently. The 3-day session took place at DWR’s headquarters and was attended by 10 working LDs and programmers.

LONDON — Having played a key role in concert lighting over the years, it was perhaps fitting that Martin gear be used for the recently-opened British Music Experience (BME), which gives visitors a retrospective look at popular music in the U.K.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — LD Per Sundin combined the new with the classic for The Visit of the Royal Physician (Livlægens Besøg) at the Copenhagen Opera House. “We combined an 18th Century look with a very modern tool,” Sundin said, of the 64 square meters of Martin Professional LC Series LED panels used as moving set columns.

LILLE, France — You can be in need of a good pair of glasses and still find your way to Krys Opticals in Wattrellos, an upscale suburb of Lille, thanks to an installation of Anolis LEDs designed and supplied by Anolis’ French distributor, Ambiance Lumière.

LONDON — The Barbican Centre London, one of Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venues with a variety of art, music, theatre, dance, film and education events, has recently purchased 16 PixelPar 90s.

ZURICH, Switzerland — Lighting and media designer Matthias Kern of Kernfusion used Robe DigitalSpot 5000s for a 360-degree projection created for the Conelli Circus’ performances on a small island on Lake Zurich.

GROZNY — Last year, after a six-year rebuilding effort, the State Theater and Concert Hall reopened in this war-torn capital of the Republic of Chechnya with a new lighting system provided by ETC dealer Sistema.

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.