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11 August 2025

UK - tvONE has announced the launch of Pixel Academy, a new centre for AV training that blends professional AV technology with expert-led, hands-on instruction. From advanced signal processing to seamless video distribution and multi-window solutions, Pixel Academy is built to empower the next generation of AV innovators.

Located at tvONE’s R&D Innovation Centre in Maidenhead, just 20 minutes from London Heathrow, Pixel Academy offers easy access for AV professionals across the UK and Europe. The training facility features the company’s latest high-performance solutions, including the award-winning Calico PRO and CORIOmaster2 video processors, as well as a full array of LED displays in both traditional and creative formats.

“Pixel Academy is precisely the kind of initiative that empowers creatives and technologists to push boundaries,” sa

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11 August 2025

Czech Republic - An array of Claypaky lighting fixtures illuminated the Smetanova Litomyšl Festival, the second oldest music festival in the Czech Republic and one of the country’s largest classical music festivals. From 14 June to 6 July, the 67th edition returned to its traditional setting of the courtyard of a Renaissance castle in Litomyšl, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where it delighted national and international guests. David Bazik is the technical director and set designer for the festival.

Prague-based LightNeq, which specialises in premium sound, lighting, video and staging solutions with internationally recognised brands, provided the Claypaky fixtures, which included seven Rhapsodyas, 20 Sinfonya Profile 600s and 24 Midi-B/WWs, all of them capable of extremely quiet operation.

The festival, which dates from 1949, is named for the most

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11 August 2025

Slovenia - Singer, songwriter and superstar Nina Pušlar rocked her picturesque hometown of Ivančna Gorica, 40k out of Ljubljana, for a triumphant homecoming concert at the football stadium, celebrating 20 years of success in the music industry. Her career, like so many, started via a talent competition, and her energising, broad-based appeal and bubbly blend of folk and pop has made her the hottest artist in Slovenia.

Lighting designer Crt Birsa of design studio Blackout produced a carefully sculpted light show crafted for the scale and importance of the occasion. He utilised nearly 200 Robe moving lights among his 500-plus fixtures to impress Nina’s friendly, loyal, and enthusiastic fanbase, which included Slovenia’s President, Nataša Pirc Musar.

Crt and his team at design studio Blackout have been working with the artist for around 15 years,

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11 August 2025

USA - INFiLED has announced its newest showroom in Chicago, Illinois, further expanding the company’s presence across the USA.

Joining its existing LA Experience Centre, the new Chicago Experience Centre features the company’s LED displays for both fixed installation and rental/staging applications, offering customers the chance to experience the technology firsthand.

Products on show include INFiLED’s fixed mounted WV, WP and WT series and a variety of hanging rental solutions powered by Green Hippo, along with its all-in-one corporate solution, OrionLED series, showcased in its meeting spaces.

“We are thrilled to announce the grand opening of INFiLED’s brand-new Experience Centre in Chicago, a major milestone in our commitment to bringing cutting-edge LED display technology and customer support closer to our valued partners,” co

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11 August 2025

USA - James Butera has chosen Clair Global and multiple Clair brands for audio rental and support many times during his career as both a FOH engineer and production manager, and in his most recent outing with pop star Halsey, he's working with the group once again.

"One of the vendors I grew up working with in Dallas was Onstage Systems which was purchased by LD Systems, and then LD Systems was purchased by Clair Global, so it's kind of come full circle now," he states.

"Large-scale audio and touring are something I've always wanted to do, but I had to pick up other skill sets along the way to get where I am now. The audio vendor I got in with worked with Mary J. Blige, so I bypassed the sprinter van and went straight to bigger shows on my first tour, but my next tour was in a sprinter van. I was tour manager, production manager, mixing monitors and

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11 August 2025

India - Bhopal-based Phoenix Networks has officially transitioned to Phoenix Networks Global Pvt. Ltd in a move that reflects its ambitions in both domestic and international live production markets.

The new identity marks ‘a forward-facing evolution catalysed by the company’s highly acclaimed production support for the Kathmandu Music Festival in Nepal in late 2024’.

"The transformation to Phoenix Networks Global Pvt. Ltd. reflects more than a name change - it reflects our growing global footprint, fuelled by the overwhelming success of our services for the Kathmandu Music Festival," explains Animesh Mishra, founder director of the company. "We’ve always believed in setting new benchmarks, and this rebranding aligns with our vision of offering our signature service excellence on a global platform."

Founded in 2011 with a vision to tr

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11 August 2025

USA - Obsidian Control Systems has introduced Onyx 4.32, the latest iteration of its popular lighting control software for NX consoles and PC systems. This new version includes a host of improvements - feature enhancements and bug fixes - designed to give lighting programmers more control, speed, and flexibility while opening up new possibilities for creative programming.

Faster cue control, smarter pixel mapping, and timecode support via standard audio input make programming smoother than ever, says the company. Whether you work in theatre, broadcast, or live events, Onyx 4.32 gives designers and programmers tools that streamline workflow for an even more intuitive lighting control experience.

Key updates in Onyx 4.32 include Cue List Tracking, which allows you to skip over cues while keeping your show running smoothly. Parameters can now also be re

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08 August 2025

UK - As part of LSi's 40th anniversary celebrations, we'll be taking a tour through the archives at our coverage of various shows and productions over the decades. First up, a musical that launched at around the same time as LSi, and is still going strong! When Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera debuted at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London’s West End in October 1986, reviewers raved about its spectacular stage effects. These included “a thousand candles arising from a subterranean lake and a ‘gas lit’ recreation of the Paris Opera House of the 1870s”.

Having itself launched just a year earlier – in November 1985 – LSi ventured backstage to meet the creatives responsible for that fascinating flicker effect; something we might not think twice about today, but which was as magic as Paul Daniels back in the ‘80s!

In the

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08 August 2025

Switzerland - Between 4 and 19 July, the 59th Montreux Jazz Festival brought 250,000 music fans together for two weeks of live music along the shores of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva. More than 700 performances from legends to rising stars filled its stages with genres spanning jazz, Latin music, R&B, pop, rock, EDM, and hip hop. Kicking off with a tribute to Quincy Jones by Chaka Khan, the lineup spanned icons and fresh voices alike, including Samara Joy, Max Richter, RAYE, Benson Boone, Shaboozey, and Brandi Carlile.

Now in its 39th year as the festival’s global official sound partner, Meyer Sound powered 15 venues and spaces throughout Montreux with more than 400 loudspeakers, delivering extraordinary experiences for artists and audience members alike. All audio, lighting, and video equipment was supplied once again by Swiss rental company an

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08 August 2025

Singapore - The Adam Hall Group is continuing its international growth and expanding its sales network in Southeast Asia. Loud Technologies Asia is now the exclusive distributor of the LD Systems brand in Singapore. With this new partnership, the global event technology manufacturer headquartered in Neu-Anspach aims to further expand the presence of its pro audio brand in the dynamic city state and tap into new market potential.

Loud Technologies Asia, based in Singapore, is an established distribution partner specialising in high-quality audio, lighting, video and control solutions for professional applications. The company has extensive regional market experience and – in addition to the exclusive distribution of LD Systems – will also offer the other brands of the Adam Hall Group in Singapore on request. The regional clientele includes AV integrators

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08 August 2025

UK - Having won the 2025 Olivier Award for Best Sound Design for Fiddler on the Roof at Regents Park Open Air Theatre, sound designer Nick Lidster revised his solution to meet the requirements of a new, indoor home, the Barbican Theatre. Unlike many conventional proscenium houses, the Barbican relies on chain hoists to fly a PA, making a line array the preferred solution. Happily, sound supplier Autograph offered Lidster the latest technology, in the form of d&b’s CCL (Compact Cardioid Line Array) system.

The new CCL system – bringing d&b’s renowned directivity control to its most compact line array yet – proved the ideal solution for sound designer Nick Lidster at the Barbican Theatre . . .

Lidster was happy with the prospect, having had positive experience of the XSL – the smallest member of d&b’s SL-Series. “I ha

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08 August 2025

USA - Progressive rockers and sci-fi storytellers Coheed and Cambria continued to compel audiences on their recent The Infinite Arc Tour, taking concertgoers along with them as they traversed both space and human emotion.

In support of the band’s eleventh studio album, Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe, the tour amplified the storytelling of lead singer Claudio Sanchez’s comic book series The Amory Wars. In addition to the narrative arc, each show on tour brought the impressive visuals and musicality the band has hallmarked throughout its successful three-decade career.

Lighting designer Ben Jarrett of Squeek Lights took all of this into account when crafting the lighting looks and palettes for the tour. He explained the rig, detailing how one special onstage feature influenced his approach, and how X-Laser