Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
City Theatrical - Banner - July 2025

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UK - 'James Valpy - The Hippotech' by Bruce Schwartz (Electrosonic SA's Entertainment Lighting Manager) . . .

"James Valpy's nickname is 'The Hippotech', but he's not a hi-tech game ranger. This South African born, English trained, lighting and video technician trots the globe providing stunning visuals with Green Hippo Media Servers. I caught up with James backstage at the Johannesburg leg of Rihanna's Diamonds World Tour.

"Born in Cape Town in 1988, James left South Africa for England when he was four. He studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and completed his BA (Hons) in Theatre Practice. James initially specialized in production lighting but soon gravitated to video as a medium. The knowledge of both proved invaluable.

"James wa

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UK - In the four years since it began, The Great British Bake Off has become one of BBC2's most popular series. Lighting such a show may seem as easy as, well, baking a cake. But the simplicity of the show's concept belies the challenge that comes with rigging a set in the middle of a field, a challenge leading lighting supplier Stage Electrics stepped up to and conquered.

"The first series of The Great British Bake Off travelled around the UK and the logistical challenges involved were considerable," says Stage Electrics project manager Russell Payne, who has worked on the show since the very start. "A company that could handle the logistics of moving tents, lighting, power, etc, was needed. We do a lot of work with the BBC and, as one of only a few companies that have the infrastructure to supply what was necessary, the production company who produ

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UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light is holding an online auction of surplus new and ex-hire lighting and AV equipment in order to make room for new incoming products. The auction, organised by Sweeney Kincaid auctioneers, includes more than 600 lots of new and used products from manufacturers ArKaos Pro, City Theatrical, Clay Paky, ETC, Martin Professional, Selecon, and many more. With everything from lighting fixtures and accessories to control desks and dimmers, the online sale is offering deep discounts for those quick enough to snap up a bargain.

Products range in condition from new products 'off the shelf' to ex-hire gear 'sold for spares' and could appeal to wide variety of customers including venues, rental houses, and events companies looking to complement existing stocks or end users seeking a particular piece of equipment. Detailed information and photos

Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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Canada - Adamson Systems Engineering continues to evolve during their 30th anniversary year. Brock Adamson recently announced the promotion of James Oliver to the position of director of marketing & sales.

"James brings a skill set to the table that spans beyond pro audio. Adamson saw tremendous growth last year and our goal is to add expertise in all aspects of our business," explains Adamson. "This move will help the company continue to expand sales and marketing efforts around the world. We're looking to provide our international partners and distributors with clear direction, support and a product line that can't be matched by any other manufacturer."

In his new role Oliver will be responsible for the growth of Adamson's sales worldwide with focus on growing the North American market. These efforts will include defining global brand strategy, offering t

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Royal Visit - The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are to visit the National Theatre today, as the institution celebrates its 50th birthday. They will be given a backstage tour by outgoing director Sir Nicholas Hytner and watch rehearsals for forthcoming family show Emil and the Detectives. Their visit marks the anniversary of the first performance at the theatre

Peter O'Toole opened the venue on 22 October 1963, playing Hamlet under the eye of founder Sir Laurence Olivier. More than 800 productions have taken place at the venue in the intervening 50 years, including premieres of plays by Tom Stoppard, Peter Shaffer, Harold Pinter, Alan Bennett and David Hare.

During their visit, the Queen and Prince Philip will enjoy a musical number from Guys and Dolls, which was the first musical staged at the National, in 1982. The royal visitors will also visit the props work

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UK - ETC's PLASA stand visitors queued up for demonstrations of the new ETC Source Four LED CYC last week. With the help of a desert scene cyclorama lent by the Design Realisation students on the Technical Theatre Arts programme at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, ETC's fixtures product manager Jim Uphoff and colleagues showed how one scene can be dramatically changed to match different times of day.

Five Source Four LED fixtures with attached CYC adapters at the bottom, and another five at the top, were controlled through an ETC Paradigm touchscreen to produce different colour mixes, each affecting how the scene was perceived.

At London's National Theatre, lighting director Neil Austin used a similar setup on Liolá, using Source Four CYC fixtures to create a very slow fade from cool blue daytime to warm orange evening lighting over the course of up to half an hour.

Els

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Australia - Situated on level 3 of the Tattersalls Club, Doltone House Hyde Park is a new meeting and events venue boasting 5m high ceilings with an abundance of natural light via floor to ceiling spectacular windows and uninterrupted views of Sydney's Hyde Park.

The Hyde Park Ballroom is the main room which can be divided, via operable walls, into four smaller rooms, or any combination thereof, if required. The Manhattan and Avenue Rooms are smaller meeting spaces often used as pre-function rooms.

Fredon designed, supplied and installed all of the audio visual requirements for the venue working closely with inhouse AV company Microhire to design and develop a solution that would not only meet the needs of Doltone House's banquet staff but also Microhire.

When designing the system, Fredon took into account the venues main markets; weddings at the weekend and corporate events

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UK - Pearce Hire has barely stopped for breath over the busy summer festival season, supplying an impressive array of events for long-standing as well as new customers.

One of those new customers is Loudsound, who contracted Pearce Hire twice over the summer to supply generated power and site lighting on the Field Day Festival in London's Victoria Park, and power distro for the XX's self-curated festival, Night & Day at Hatfield House.

Loudsound is one of the UK's leading independent festival production companies, providing event management across a number of large capacity festivals.

Dan Wilson, site manager for Loudsound at Field Day was impressed by Pearce Hire's detailed tender, competitive pricing and knowledge of how best to manage greenfield festival sites - a particular area of expertise for Pearce Hire.

"We needed to find a new provider for these important se

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South Korea - Magic on Ice, the art, magic and conjuring show created by Steve Wheeler, sold out for 10 days at the Blue Square Theatre in Seoul, South Korea, with 20 shows and over 20,000 spectators.

The famous American magician, who lives and works in Las Vegas, started doing his travelling show several years ago to make a name for himself worldwide. Emiliano Morgia, the show's lighting designer in South Korea said, "We met in Dubai, where I worked on one of his shows, and he called me again for this one in the Far East."

The lighting rig included 24 Alpha Profile 1500s, 24 Alpha Spot HPE 700s and Clay Paky Sharpys.

"One interesting aspect of the pre-production was that I prepared everything at home with WYSIWYG. In particular, I connected up remotely with Steve Wheeler, who was also the creative director," Emiliano Morgia said. "We worked t

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Belgium - Lighting designer Frederik Heerinckx of BlackBox Design was hugely anticipating his first chance to use Robe's new Pointe fixtures on a show .. and the occasion presented itself for the 2013 Beachvolley Deluxe Championships in Baal.

The annual three day event, which is organised by vzw Beachvolley Deluxe and a dedicated team of volunteers headed by Stijn Saliem, celebrated its 14th glorious year, welcoming over 200 teams and up to 1000 spectators a day ... to enjoy some superlative beach volleyball action. It sold out in 15 minutes.

Baal might be decidedly landlocked, but the spirit of the beach lived on ... complete with a fully sanded venue, volleyball courts and two large beach parties staged on the Friday and Saturday nights, complete with an all-action DJ line up.

Production values are high on the agenda at this event which features a StageCo stage, a speciall

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France - One of the most famous monuments of the 'old city' of Lyon (Vieux Lyon), the Palais de Justice de Lyon, recently benefited from a new exterior lighting installation which uses an array of LED lighting fixtures from Ayrton to accentuate its architectural magnificence.

Ayrton, French specialists in intelligent LED lighting products for entertainment and architectural applications, has provided fixed installations for a number of historic monuments, of which the Palais de Justice is just the latest.

Inaugurated in 1847 and often referred to the 'Palace of the Twenty-Four Columns', the Palais de Justice de Lyon was classified as a Historical Monument in 1996 and is one of the finest neo-classical buildings in France.

To show its spectacular facade to its best advantage, lighting designer Jerome Donna from the Public Lighting Department of the City of Lyon chose a select

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Czech Republic - The Czech Republic operation of global professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recently moved to a new, ecologically advanced headquarters in Prague. Its comprehensive meeting and conference facilities required a matrixed audio system that could reliably accommodate any requirement, meaning a Yamaha digital solution was the ideal choice.

The eight-storey City Green Court is the first building in the Czech Republic to receive Platinum certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), an international certification system for green buildings developed by the US Green Building Council. It includes a 2000m2 conference centre for use by PwC, its business partners and clients, which is also available to rent by other organisations for events ranging from large social functions to club gatherings, training, seminars and priva

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Germany - From 30 June to 5 July 2013, top international researchers and young scientists gathered in Lindau. Every year since 1951, this historic city on the shores of Lake Constance has been host to a meeting of Nobel Laureates and this year the focus was on chemistry. The 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting brought together 34 Nobel Prize winners and more than 600 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 78 countries, all of whom had travelled to Lindau to share their knowledge in lectures, discussions and master classes with the highly experienced researchers.

The media equipment and support for the events, which were held in various locations from the Landratsamt county hall to the town's theatre, were provided, among others, by Baas Film GmbH. The company's managing director Mihály Baas reported, "We set up an event stage and other equipment at the Lindau Inselhal

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UK - Last weekend, White Light sponsored the UK Theatre Awards, presented Sunday at the historic Guildhall in Central London. The annual awards ceremony, organised by the Theatrical Management Association, celebrates the impressive individual and collective achievements of the nation's thriving theatre sector.

White Light has long been a supporter of the TMA and its award ceremony, supplying lighting equipment and services to the event for several years before becoming an official sponsor of the UK Theatre Awards in 2012. White Light continues to supply lighting for the event in addition to its sponsorship.

White Light managing director Bryan Raven commented, "We are happy to support the TMA and the UK Theatre Awards. Recognising and promoting the great work of regional theatres is a vital part of strengthening the cultural sector and ensuring it thrives in all areas of o

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USA - Two Avolites Media Ai Infinity 8 Servers and one Ai T8 server have powered the video mapping, projection, and LED screens for the Billboard Latin Music Awards in Miami - watched by more than 30 million people.

Avolites Media Developer Ciaran Abrams worked closely with US-based lighting design and media presentation company DMDS7UDIOS on the 2013 Awards, held at the 7,972-seat BankUnited Center.

"Avolites Media's Ai kit was used to run every bit of video that was seen at the event - including the projection on the triangles and the video mapping for the 4 LED Screens placed in unusual geometry around the stage. We also video mapped MiStrip Led Strips at the back of the stage and several thousand MiPix designed into the set," says Abrams. "There were multiple systems outputting to 10 HD projectors and 4 HD LED setups, all controlled from one lighting desk. T

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UK - MGC Lighting has lit up this summer's music scene, providing solutions to Glastonbury, Latitude, Edinburgh and Isle of Wight festivals. The innovative lighting provider, which has a wealth of live performance experience, supplied carefully selected solutions to create a range of impressive effects on- and off-stage.

At Glastonbury Festival, MGC supplied lighting to coordinate car park and campsite areas, providing festival goers with easily-navigable paths and walkways. Here, colour-coordinated Impact LED G45 Golfball Lamps provided bright output with a warm glow, in-keeping with the festival's creative design concepts.

On-stage at Glastonbury GE PAR lamps were used to illuminate a star-studded line-up of performers. Here, bright, single beams were combined with Rosco coloured gels to create an array of dazzling colour effects. Performers at this year's Glastonbury Festiv

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USA - With significant business growth throughout the Asia Pacific region, J. R. Clancy has opened a Southeast Asia office in Singapore.

Robert J. Degenkolb will step into the role as managing director of J.R. Clancy (Singapore) Pte Ltd, where he will be focused on business development for the region.

"We initially opened the Singapore office to provide support for the Star Performing Arts Centre project," said Degenkolb. "Since then, we've found that Singapore's business infrastructure and high quality compliance requirements have been favourable to hosting our Asian Pacific stage engineering presence."

Singapore is known for having some of the highest quality standards in Southeast Asia, making it a natural fit for J. R. Clancy's standard for manufacturing, installation and operational/maintenance philosophy.

Degenkolb formally joined Clancy as a proj

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UK - Avolites Media's industry-leading Ai Servers and Sapphire Media consoles have exhibited their flexibility and processing power handling multiple live input streams alongside playback of custom designed media content for this year's Secret Garden Party - main and second stages.

Almost 30,000 revellers attended the popular independent music and arts festival in Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire, to see headliners including Faithless, 2ManyDJs, and The Ladykillers.

Two Ai Infinity Servers with two black magic capture cards in each were stationed on the main stage (one for service, one backup) and controlled by the Sapphire Media console. A second Ai server was placed to serve the second stage.

"The festival organisers wanted something different from the standard wall of LED screens," says design company Immersive's Ralph Lambert, who was in charge of all main stage v

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Denmark - Jazz musician, producer and internationally acclaimed pianist Niels Lan Doky has teamed up with Claus Meyer, co-owner of the Michelin-starred noma restaurant, to launch The Standard, a new Jazz club in Copenhagen that includes two bars and three world-class restaurants. Officially opened on 3 October, 2013, The Standard's audio equipment list highlights another famous Danish name - DPA Microphones.

"We have between 10 and 15 DPA microphones permanently in the venue and we will be hiring in more when larger ensembles are playing," says Doky, who is musical director of the new venue. "When our stage was completed in September, we conducted a series of rehearsals and tests on site with the DPA team to determine exactly which microphones we needed. The list, which is exclusively DPA, includes various d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones and a selection of d:di

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Sweden - In celebration of its 90th anniversary, Liseberg amusement park in Sweden has completely renovated its children's area to create Rabbit Land, a 10,000sq.m play area where children can interact with animals and rabbit-costumed actors.

To carry the actors' voices, sound effects, and incidental music throughout the park, system integrator One Two Sales of Gothenburg has outfitted Rabbit Land with Meyer Sound's D-Mitri digital audio platform and Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers discreetly placed throughout the area.

"Meyer Sound's integrated solution was a perfect match for Liseberg's expansion," says Ola Lindstedt of One Two Sales. "They wanted a supplier with extensive experience in themed entertainment, which Meyer has worldwide. Of course, they also wanted high-quality sound and reliability."

At the heart of the system is the D-Mitri platfor

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UK - New regulations set to come into play could mean more training and investment is needed for those involved in the building of event structures, a leading safety body has said.

The advice comes from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health's (IOSH) Sports Grounds and Events Group, in the light of new Construction Design Management Regulations (CDM), which are set to take effect in October 2014.

Carl Hagemann, chair of the IOSH Sports Grounds and Events Group, said: "Event organisers and those working in safety at events really do need to realise the impact the new CDM regulations could potentially have on their day-to-day jobs.

"Although the regulations coming into play may seem like a lifetime away, there's no time like the present to start preparing."

When applied to the events industry, the new CDM rules could mean change for organisers and a

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