News

grandMA at the Light Concert in Jerusalem

Israel - The music of Brahms, Grieg, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Verdi featured in the Jerusalem Festival of Light 2010. The Concert of Light took place at the Sultan's Pool in the city.

The performance included the work of internationally renowned lighting designer Gert Hof and the music of The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra IBA orchestrated by Gal Altrovich. With the old city walls of Jerusalem as a dramatic backdrop to the event, it also relied on the latest technology, with a grandMA system used for lighting control. Lighting director and programmer Ofer Brum ran the show on a grandMA full-size console with a grandMA light as a backup and two MA NSPs (Network Signal Processors).

Ofer Brum reports, "The show programming was done on a grandMA full-size with MSD (Martin ShowDesigner) 3D lighting visualisation software. I made the 3D model, including stage trusses, moving hoists and all lighting gear. After the model was approved by Gert Hof, it took four days to programme the whole show. Pre-programming the show proved vital, as we only had two nights on site to focus and test the whole setup."

Besides a plethora of other lights, 63 4K search lights were installed for the show and reached with their beams into the night sky above Jerusalem.

Production manager was Kobi Rosenthal and the lighting equipment was delivered by Gil Teichman. A.B. Electronics is MA Lighting's distributor in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

Gert Hof comments," For the first time I was not working with my own crew or equipment. All personnel and equipment, which included a grandMA, were supplied by the Israeli company The Art of Light in a highly professional and focused operation.

"I chose the music for this event together with conductor Gal Altrovich, with the intention that it begins and ends with songs from Jerusalem. That is the reason we chose Me'al Pisgat Har HaZofim for the finale.

"The whole show was planned over a period of nearly four months. My focus was the language and alphabet of light. You have to read and hear manifests of light to translate them into architecture built high above in the sky. Orchestrations, events, all art is only interesting if it reflects the courage, passion, obsession, willingness to take risks and the thoroughness of the director - and it also has a unique character. An event is always a positioning, a definition and a delimitation. My orchestrations are shaped by my faith into the extraordinary, the peculiar, the visionary."

(Jim Evans)

(16 July 2010)