More details from ETC (www.etcconnect.com):
The Opera’s old desk was coming to the end of its life, and the venue’s managers wanted a newer, modern desk, that could easily handle conventional lights, moving heads, LEDs, and media servers. They needed a system that would keep up with a very busy production schedule across two venues – in Antwerp and Ghent – with shows run by in-house and guest lighting operators. Says Koen Ceulemans, account manager at ETC dealer FACE: “We immediately recommended a desk from ETC’s Eos line. They’re are among the main theater desks worldwide, and the syntax is likely to be familiar to many who have used other manufacturers’ desks in the past. ETC has become renowned for manufacturing powerful, future-proofed control desks, and the ongoing free software updates and excellent technical support helped convince the company’s managers that it was the right choice.”
The lighting staff handles audio, video and special effects, in addition to standard lighting, and a roster of different people operate the control desks, which means that their desk has to have straightforward and logical functions, with syntax as simple as spoken language. They also needed a system that is fast for editing and has elaborate timing options. Gio offers all of that and more.
FACE lent a Gio to the opera house for two days, to see if it worked for them. “After that,” says Ceulemans, “they wanted to practice using it to run a full show – creating it in Antwerp, then transferring it to Ghent.”
Glen D’haenens, Head of Lighting at De Vlaamse Opera, adds: “During our full production using Gio, Koen stayed with us for a couple of hours to help and assist, but it turned out we really didn’t need him – we were up to speed so quickly that he could go back to the office.”
Ceulemans concludes: “We gave the Opera’s technicians our mobile phone numbers in case they had any technical difficulties, but everything went perfectly. They did the complete production, including the transfer, without any help. And from then on, they’ve had the perfect relationship with the console.”
