Slovakia - The annual gala Christmas TV show Hodina Detom (An Hour for Children) is organised by the Children of Slovakia Foundation to help raise funds and awareness for the charity, which works to empower children and young people nationwide who are living in and dealing with difficult circumstances.

Top lighting designer Martin Kubanka again brought his style and expertise to ensure it was a memorable live broadcast, and specified nearly 100 Robe fixtures including Spikies, Pointes, BMFL Spots and BMFL WashBeams, plus LEDWash 600 moving lights, together with the fabulously retro PATT 2013s. All helped bring extra special touches of seasonal magic to the mix.

The show - for which a host of celebrities and VIP devoted their time for free - was staged at the RTVS TV studio in Bratislava from where it was broadcast live and people could make donations online.<

UK - When the latest Elvis Presley show took to the road, PRG XL Video supported production manager Peter Edmonds, supplying lighting, video and rigging for the tour. 2015's million selling album If I Can Dream, further strengthened The King's inimitable reputation by giving him a number one album in five different decades.

The tour used archive footage of Elvis, musical accompaniment by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a personal appearance by Priscilla Presley, and gave many fans the chance they had not previously had - to experience the man who changed the course of music and went on to sell over a billion records around the world and cement his position as the biggest selling solo artist in history.

Lighting designer Steve Sinclair reports, "The brief was straight forward, the main part of the show is the screen showing Elvis, and everything else has been de

Chile - Forty thousand fans attend a special music event in the National Stadium of Chile, in Santiago. This was the tenth year of La Cumbre del Rock, a festival which celebrates the rock music of Chile, with nearly 40 of its best artists appearing live at the emblematic venue.

Real Audio, the up-and-coming dynamic PA supplier, provided Nexo STM Series modular line array systems to service the 2-stage event. The production values were very strong - with the side-by-side stages, the distance between left and right PA arrays was 60m, so a powerful Nexo STM system with a centre column was designed by Real Audio owner Claudio Valencia Diaz and his main engineer Christian Carre

Israel - The Gesher Theatre has recently taking delivery of new Robe BMFL Blades and LEDWash 600s to add to their existing LEDWash 1200s as the Czech moving light manufacturer continues to make an impression in theatres and performance installations.

The theatre, in the southern Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa, was founded in 1991 by new Russian immigrants including artistic director Yevgeny Arye and is now regarded as a key platform of Israeli culture. It is one of the only bi-lingual theatres in the world performing in both Russian and Hebrew, although most productions today are staged in Hebrew. It has won multiple awards and gained worldwide critical recognition.

The new moving lighting rig was supplied - after a competitive tender process - by Danor Theatre & Studio Systems, Robe's Israeli distributor, and was specified by one of Israel's leading lighting designers Bambi (Av

USA - The past 12 months have seen Chauvet DJ introduce an array of new lighting fixtures like the Intimidator Hybrid 140SR, Intimidator Beam 140SR, Freedom Stick Pack and FX Par 9. This impressive string of innovations wasn't lost on the dealers who sell those products. They helped the company earn Lighting Line of the Year and DJ Line of the Year honours in the 2016 in the MMR Dealer's Choice Awards.

This marks the fourth year in a row that Chauvet DJ has been honoured with a MMR Dealer's Choice Award, which is based on voting by the magazine's dealer subscribers.

Chauvet DJ team was presented with their MMR Dealers Choice Awards at the company's NAMM booth in Anaheim. "This is a great honour and we are grateful for the recognition among our valued peers" said Chauvet DJ President Albert Chauvet. "It is confirmation that our constant efforts to provide the very best valu

France - Two of France's top sound engineers, Laurent Midas and Stéphane Plisson, have both adopted Allen & Heath's dLive digital mixing system as their mixer of choice. Both engineers selected dLive S Class systems, comprising the flagship S7000 Surfaces and DM64 MixRacks, for the live tour of TV show, Dancing with the Stars.

"The first word that comes to mind is 'modern',"says monitor engineer, Laurent Midas. "The menu and surface designs are really effective, and being able to simply drag 'n drop your own layout is a no-brainer. The system has amazing processing power - we PFL 300 or 400 times a show but switching is so quick and transparent, and if you want to save a show, it's done in seconds! Latency is very important for in-ear monitors, and dLive is three or four times less than other consoles, so that the singer perceives no delay at all."

The 28-dat

UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET) has recently been appointed as the exclusive UK distributor for DMG Lumi

Germany - Bon Jovi tribute band Bounce has been on the European circuit for more than 10 years ten years. As 'Bounce & Orchestra II' they recently embarked on their Next Level tour in the beautiful city hall of Wuppertal.

Lighting designer and operator, Christian David, specified several of PR Lighting's patented XR 440 BWS fixtures for this show. "The flexibility of this hybrid moving head is really impressive as is its compact size," he said. "The colour-mixing feature and also the projection of the gobos is tremendous. The Beam range and 'old school wash light will rightly give this general purpose moving head the name of 'all round talent.'"

Christian further notes that the two independent prism sections, which can contra-rotate, also offer him "cool and pretty much unique" options. The PR Lighting portfolio is distributed in Germany by Focon Showtechnik.

(Jim Evan

UK - As part of their European journey, Swedish band Opeth opted for a single show at Wembley Arena for their UK audience. Magnus Boyd has been lighting the band for the last 18 months. The show at Wembley was a part of the Sorceress World Tour.

"During the tour, we have done special extended sets (at Radio City and Belasco in LA) featuring songs from the Deliverance and Damnation albums before the third at Wembley. The final extended set will be at the Sydney Opera House in February. These are impressive spaces that really deserve a large production; the design didn't change much, we just doubled what we would normally have in the rig."

Boyd hooked up with High Wycombe based rental company Siyan Limited to deliver his touring and Wembley show lighting requirements which is an overwhelmingly Claypaky affair, with MA control and with a surprise appearance of A

Germany - Event industry professionals now have the opportunity to actively shape four formats at the international trade show and the international conference for theatre, film and event technology at Stage|Set|Scenery. They are currently invited to submit their entries for papers at the International Stage Technology Conference, the Safety in Action stage, the Anatomical Theatre, the LightLab and the SoundLab. The deadline for applications is 15 February 2017. (www.stage-set-scenery.de)

Taking place for the second time, the Weltenbauer.Awards will be presented at Stage|Set|Scenery on 20 June 2017. With this industry award Deutsche Theatertechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (DTHG) honours innovative and original stage technology solutions that have helped to realise the artistic concept of a theatre or show production in a particularly impressive manner. Any theatre, musical, show,

USA - January kicked off with the re-emergence of The Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, one of the country's largest Christian tours. Bandit Lites supplies the lighting package for the evening of music, worship and ministry, which has outpaced other tour attendance for the past four years.

This year's artists include Crowder, Britt Nicole, Tenth Avenue North, Sadie Robertson, Andy Mineo, Colton Dixon, Thousand Foot Krutch, Newsong, Tony Nolan, OBB, Sarah Reeves and Steven Malcolm.

Winter Jam has acquired a large, loyal following, meaning that lighting designer Jerry Holcomb has to coordinate a new look each year, all while staying within the parameters of the in-the-round design, budget and looks for various acts, who also can contribute to the design.

"Daniel Smallbone and Kurtis Wheat with Lumina Design are involved in the design, helping with fixture type and placements,

Belgium - Creative lighting designer Thomas Boets loves challenges, so when production company Fast Forward Events asked him to light the iconic Reyers Tower in Brussels - a 73m high concrete broadcasting pillar, complete with 34 diameter upper section, in total standing 89m tall and dominating the local skyline - he jumped at the chance!

He also chose Robe fixtures to accomplish the task which required a careful balance of spectacle and practicality to produce an outstanding lighting scheme for the heritage listed landmark frequently dubbed the 'flying saucer'.

The idea of transforming the Tower into a beacon of light for De Warmste Week (Music for Life) originated from advertising agency DDB working for VRT radio station Studio Brussels who organise the high-profile charity fundraising event.

Thomas - known for his designs for other events like the Ghent Floralien, p

Australia - Country superstar Keith Urban had the honour of being the first artist to headline the International Convention Centre Sydney's (ICC Sydney) entertainment theatre.

Although the venue is equipped with a d&b audiotechnik PA system, Keith is a long time Clair account and so JPJ Audio provided their new Clair Cohesion PA system, purchased just in time for Keith's Australian Ripcord Tour.

Seamless integration within the Cohesion Series, assures uniform coverage in multiple venues regardless of acoustic challenges or sightlines. The Series provides higher output, reference quality sound within a smaller footprint; in truck space and in the air.

Keith's FOH engineer Kirk Kelsey has mixed for a wide variety of acts including Live, Creed, Three Doors Down, and The Smashing Pumpkins. He readily admits that he has been blown away by the Cohesion Series.

"The new C

UK - For the third year running, Blackout supplied and installed a complex series of projection screens and drapes to transform the Royal Albert Hall ahead of The Fashion Awards in partnership with Swarovski.

Project manager Tom Lambert, who has worked on the event for the previous two years at London's Coliseum, oversaw the smooth installation of the production rigging at the Royal Albert Hall utilising Liftket motors and associated rigging equipment to fly two large projection screens, an LED screen and Blackout's five roller screens.

Set back from the front of stage and offset to each side, two portrait projection screens each measuring 5m x 11.5m and weighing 500kgs each were flown with the LED screen set back in between them. A voile drape was installed hard up to the front of the LED to create a back drop for the projection across the three surfaces; this allowed the

UK - Internationally-renowned lighting designer Durham Marenghi selected an array of Claypaky luminaires to enhance a number of stunning audiovisual installations across Hull as part of the city's 'UK City of Culture 2017' inauguration festivities.

Marenghi, who has previously designed lighting for such prestigious outdoor events as the London NYE countdown 2016, London 2012 Olympics Handover in Beijing and the Rio 2016 Olympic ceremonies, was assisted in the project by award-winning West-end theatre lighting designer and Hull resident Tim Lutkin.

Together, they specified 42 x Claypaky Mythos, 12 x Claypaky Alpha Spot QWO 800s and eight Claypaky Sharpy Wash 330s from Manchester-based lighting specialist dbn lighting to create architectural light shows at the city's historic Queen Victoria square, famous aquarium The Deep - as well as an installation in an underpass famous

UK - Elaine Paige has just completed her sold-out Stripped Back" UK tour to rapturous reviews. Fans were treated to an intimate experience with just a five-piece band, a microphone and her. Delta Sound supplied all the audio equipment for the tour (stage, control, monitor FoH and PA systems) including a substantial HALO-C system of up to 33 boxes depending on the venue.

According to Delta's Stephen Hughes who managed the equipment supply, a main PA system wasn't initially specified on the tour. However, it quickly became apparent that the house systems were woefully inadequate for Elaine, and so Delta recommended a HALO-C system from EM Acoustics as the best solution.

"The rigging in many of the venues wasn't suitable for a full PA so we mostly ended up ground-stacking the system with around five or six boxes per side and then a number of HALO-C elements as front fill and

Puerto Rico - Since first going on air in 1954, independent television station WAPA-TV (Channel 4) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been a technology leader among broadcast stations in the island country. In 2016, WAPA-TV renovated its broadcast lighting in three of its studios, installing Elation TVL series LED lighting systems. Installation of the white light luminaires made WAPA-TV the first broadcast studio in Puerto Rico to transition to LED technology.

WAPA-TV replaced all of its conventional fixtures with LED in its largest studio (Cinema), as well as a separate broadcast studio plus a smaller studio. Puerto Rican production company Musique Xpress Lights worked with the station to supply all of the LED lighting fixtures to the network and worked with WAPA's in-house LD Juan Carlos on the lighting placement and design.

The new LED lighting was part of a complete renovat

Forever Young - Petula Clark will make her UK festival debut at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival on Friday 11 August. "We're really proud to be the first British festival that Petula has played," says Fairport bassist and Cropredy co-organiser Dave Pegg. "I saw her show in Birmingham recently and it blew me away - she is a wonderful live performer. I was surprised how many of her hits I knew and her contemporary songs are really great too. Our audience will love her, I'm sure."

Also lined up for the Oxfordshire event is The Trevor Horn Band. The producer will front a 14-piece all-star band featuring fellow producers Steve Lipson and Lol Creme. The setlist will be packed with songs the trio have produced - between them they've had over 200 hit singles - and there may be guest appearances from some of the musicians they have worked with.

Dark Times Ahead - Gori

USA - Nashville-based mobile production specialist TNDV recently gave back to its community on a project that hit close to home, delivering turnkey production services for country music superstar Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountains Rise telethon to aid families affected by the Great Smoky Mountain wildfires that began in late November. Working within an extraordinarily short timeline, TNDV provided production and uplink trucks, equipment, crews and expertise while managing all key video, audio and lighting elements for the live television event.

The fires in Tennessee's Sevier County burned over 17,000 acres, claimed 14 lives, and damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 homes and businesses. Parton, who grew up in the area and whose Dollywood theme park was near the edge of the blaze, quickly established the My People Fund to help victims of the devastation. On 13 December, the three-

USA - Located near Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, Stout has been a post-game and post-work staple for Midtown New Yorkers for over a decade. Patrons spread out across three floors (Stout is arguably the largest Irish pub in the United States' largest city!) and dip deep into an extensive beer and gastro menu. Recently, NYC's Starview Satellite replaced Stout's rack of tired, failing amplifiers with fresh, powerful, energy-efficient Ashly nX-Series multi-channel amplifiers.

"In terms of power density, nothing can beat Ashly's well-engineered amplifiers," said Rich Trombitas, regional sales & product manager with A/V manufacturers rep firm Cardone, Solomon & Associates (CS&A). Trombitas recommended the Ashly amplifiers and assisted Starview Satellite with the design and logistics.

He continued, "Moreover, Ashly's nX-series multi-mode amplifiers are especially flexib

Canada - The Great Hall is one of the most eye-catching and iconic fixtures of Toronto's vibrant Queen West area. Built in 1889 and designated as a Heritage Property in 1973, it stands as a long-time beacon for the city's artistic and cultural communities.

With its age becoming increasingly apparent, this historic Victorian venue recently benefited from an interior and exterior revitalization. Now, with the addition of Adamson PAs in both the 10,000-sq. ft. Main Hall and 5,000-sq. ft. Longboat Hall, The Great Hall is in prime position to host cultural, corporate, and private events for the diverse and dynamic community it serves.

"The goal was to provide something powerful enough to handle any and all potential applications, but also work with the space on a functional and aesthetic level," shares Lina Beaudin, The Great Hall's director of business development.

The ven

Lebanon - ARX has appointed Beirut based Sparks Audio as its exclusive distributor for Lebanon.

"Sparks Audio is run by a group of sound engineers that have been active in the pro audio industry in Lebanon for more than two decades and are well known for their audio engineering talents for local and international shows," says ARX MD, Colin Park.

"We decided that Sparks Audio with its many years of experience in the pro audio installation and production industries was the ideal partner to grow the market and user base for ARX's digital and analogue product range in Lebanon."

"ARX fits perfectly into Sparks Audio product portfolio, and will be of great interest to our dealers and end users," says Jean Gibran a partner in Sparks Audio.

(Jim Evans)

Norway - Zenitel, an international leader in critical communication solutions, have delivered safety communications and entertainment equipment as part of Norway's largest ferry contract.

In 2014, Bast° Fosen won the contract to continue to operate Norway's busiest inland ferry route, between Moss and Horten, until 2026. As part of the agreement, three new ferries were built to serve this vital transport route. Zenitel has delivered communication and entertainment systems to all of the new vessels.

The inland ferry link also forms part of the national road network, Riksvei 19, acting as a highway across the Oslo fjord. In 2013 over 1.3m vehicles and 1.6 million foot passengers used the ferry service. Many of Zenitel's own employees use the ferry as part of their daily commute to the company's operational head office in Horten.

Zenitel CEO Kenneth D

USA - Since making his debut on social media and on shows such as X Factor and American Idol, RCA Nashville recording artist Kane Brown has seen a meteoric rise in the country music industry. Brown recently launched his first headlining tour in support of his self-titled debut album. Needing a production design to complement the Tennessee-native, his management team enlisted the assistance of designer Chris Lisle who got to work creating an exciting yet functional tour design which included PixelFLEX FLEXCurtain HD 6.25mm LED video supplied by tour sponsor Monster Energy.

"This is my first tour with Kane Brown as his production has now grown to a point where he needed creative direction, so I was contacted by his business manager and asked to come on board," began Lisle. "Since he would be playing a wide variety of venues, we had to create a tour design that woul

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