The autumn season is proving busy for Stage Light Design, the exhibition and conference creative lighting design specialists. The company is providing equipment, crew and lighting design services for no less than four stands at the massive Geneva Telecom quadrennial at the PalExpo. All stands have creative lighting designed by a collaboration between John Rinaldi and Alastair Crooks. In Geneva, Stage Light Design lit two shows for Intel, one in Paris and the other in Milan. These were re-runs of their highly successful imaginative lighting for Intel stands at the Networks show in Birmingham earlier in the year.
Royal Festival Hall, London's famous South Bank complex, has recently added to its existing range of Jem products. The world famous live venue has just purchased a Jem Heavy Fog 2500 complete with a full range of ducting accessories. RFH has also purchased a special customised version of the Jem Club Smoke System modified for the theatre environment. The new Jem products are the latest purchases in are re-equipment programme that also included a comprehensive Martin Professional lighting package. On a separate note, Jem also announced the sale of two Roadie smoke machines to London's newest landmark the Millennium Dome.
Lighting director Victor Fable used a new Virtuoso lighting control console from Vari-Lite for September's MTV Video Music Awards, which took place in New York. Using a Virtuoso for just the second time, Fable worked closely with lighting designer Allen Branton and lighting directors Tom Beck and Michael Goodwin for the live broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House. With a rig of moving lights including VL4, VL7, VL7B, VL5B, VL6 and VL6B luminaires, Fable found that the Virtuoso made his job easier. "It actually made doing a large show much easier than if I had used an Artisan console. I would have had to put the show on two separate Artisan desks and run them both, whereas Virtuoso handled 440 channels easily and managed it all quite well."He continued: "Virtuoso allowed me to load up many more chases and break up the show much more effectively and quickly. The ability
A trio of popular Welsh theatres have all completed new lighting installations, courtesy of Cardiff-based Theatre Vision, who specified a wide range of Strand products in each case. Theatr y Werin in Aberystwyth were happy to replace their old Strand kit with a new stateof the art system. Their entire complement of lanterns now comprises a combination of both fixed and zoom Strand SL luminaires and 34 Cantata Fresnels, alongside a new 530i desk loaded with Tracker, Networker and CommuniquePro and driven from 108 channels of Strand EC90 dimmer packs. Presently Theatre Vision are on site at Theatr Elli in Llanelli in a contract worth around £64,000, which is being supported by an Arts Council National Lottery grant. Again the company is providing an assortment of lanterns including 12 Alto Profile 14/32s, as well as a 520i control console and five LD90s. Further recent sales of Strand con
AC Lighting has appointed Lisa Young to join the busy export administration department at the company's headquarters in High Wycombe. Young is new to the lighting industry, but brings with her a wealth of experience from her previous work. She will work alongside Jo Young, assisting the export sales staff with the processing and despatch of orders.
Vari-Lite International is embarking on what it describes as "an inventory consolidation strategy". According to a recent statement issued by the company, the Dallas and Atlanta offices are to close and product and personnel from these is to be relocated to other offices within the VLPS regional network. The statement doesn't give any indication of timing, but it is anticipated that the offices will close shortly.
Armin Kloss has taken on the job of building up transtechnik's business in professional lighting equipment in Eastern Europe. He was head of the technical systems department at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin for nine years and was also divisional manager of Studiotechnik GmbH and project sales manager for Strand Lighting GmbH. The move into Eastern Europe is the next stage in transtechnik's worldwide expansion of its sales organisation.
In association with CAST Lighting of Canada, AC Lighting have begun establishing a network of WYSIWYG service providers around the world. Each is equipped with the full range of WYSIWYG products and accessories and offers a dedicated facility with fully trained personnel available for hire. A full list can be found on the WYSIWYG product section of AC's website.
One of the latest additions to Selecon's European distribution team is Lumeko, led by Vladimir Lukasevich and based in St Petersburg, Russia. This is a collaboration which is already showing impressive results - the first major sale of 90 Pacifics along with Arena PCs and Aurora Cyc lights have been installed in the Academie Pushkin. Selecon luminaires also now feature in other major St Petersburg venues - the Maliy Drama Theatre, the Academic Comedy Theatre and the Mariinsky Academic Opera and Ballet House.
Lancashire-based Lite Alternative has recently added a range of new stock in response to increased demand. The new equipment purchased includes 16 Starlite Mk 5s from distributor Lane Lighting, and 16 Martin Professional Mac 500s, which will complement the company's existing Vari-Lite Series 300 stock of VL6B and VL5 luminaires. The company's ChromaQ Par 64 scrollers have been augmented with both the Broadway and the new 4-Lite ChromaQ scrollers, while the truss options now include a 10m circle of Tomcat MD stacking truss. In lighting control, Avolites Pearl and Sapphire consoles have also been added, along with Art 4000 dimming, widening the range of control options the company now offers.
The last ever Intellabeam 700HX has come off the production line at High End Systems' (HES) headquarters in Austin, Texas. The unit - number 18,871 - was presented to High End co-founder Richard Belliveau in September. Belliveau designed the Intellabeam 400 back in 1989, and it became a success in dance clubs worldwide. The later 700HX model continued the success of the fixtures. First specified for tour use by LD Chas Herington for the 1991 Dire Straits 'On Any Street' tour, the Intellabeam went on to feature in rigs with Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Thin Lizzy, the Moody Blues and many more.High End co-founders Lowell Fowler (left) and Bob Schacherl (right) present the last Intellabeam off the HES production line to Richard Belliveau.
Over the next year, DHA will be issuing a range of new gobo designs for collectors, to be available for a limited period only. The collectors' series begins with the Y2K Collection and features five metal and one glass design all celebrating the move into the next century.
High End Systems (HES) has appointed Guillermo Cabada as West Coast regional sales manager. Cabada's territory will include Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Prior to the appointment, Cabada worked in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, importing professional lighting equipment.
White Light' sales department celebrated the post-PLASA show period with confirmation of two large orders. The first was from London's Royal Court Theatre, currently being re-constructed with funding from the National Lottery and due to re-open early in the year 2000. The Royal Court's order, worth approximately £27,000, includes the supply of the City Theatrical AutoYoke moving light, as already supplied by White Light to the Royal Opera House. The order also includes other lighting equipment and smoke machines from The Smoke Factory.
Lightfactor has supplied leading Irish rental company, Just Lites, with a large order of High End equipment including 14 Studio Spot 575s, which will join the company's existing stock of Studio Color 575s, purchased from Lightfactor last year. Just Lites carry out a wide range of lighting and design projects, particularly in the areas of live music, fashion and presentation. The new Studio Spots went straight out on a show for Mary Black, the day after the deal was signed, and her LD, Liam McCarthy, will be taking them on her UK and European tour this autumn.
Lighting and sound rental company, CAV, has purchased a Flying Pig Systems Whole Hog II lighting console to add to its stock of lighting equipment. According to CAV proprietor, Hans Beier, the purchase was made following repeated client requests for the Hog. CAV will be offering the console for hire with the option of twin LCD flat panel monitors in a single pre-configured flightcase. The company's inventory also includes Avolites Diamond 3, Pearl 2000 and Jands Hog 600 consoles, plus a wide range of intelligent lighting units including Studio Colors, Cyberlights, Technobeams and Mac 500s and 600s. The company will soon be purchasing additional Mac 250+ and 300s, and High End Systems' Studio Spots.
Coe-tech Ltd. has supplied no less than 53 Studio Due Mini City and 24 Coemar Panorama Cyc 1800s to Light & Sound Design in Birmingham for immediate general hire and for use on LSD's own major architectural projects. The first of these will be for the Rugby World Cup Semi-Finals at Twickenham followed by the Final itself at the new Cardiff Millennium Stadium.
New Zealand-based luminaire manufacturer Selecon has released the latest CD-ROM version of its product catalogue. The CD-ROM includes full details of the company's architectural and entertainment fixtures, as a well as a virtual test lab which allows the user to try the fixtures, a lux calculator, DXF files to download, cut sheets ready to print out and details of the company's distribution network.
The three original venues of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in Brisbane, have undergone an extensive lighting overhaul. The 2,000-seat Lyric Theatre, the 2000-seat Concert Hall and the 320-seat Cremorne Theatre opened in 1985 and, together with the 850-seat Optus Playhouse, now form the largest installation of ETC lighting and control systems in Australia. The Cremorne uses one of two Express 250 consoles purchased for QPAC's two new rehearsal studios, but will inherit an Obsession II from the Lyric when it is replaced by an Obsession II 1500. The Concert Hall uses two Express 72/144 desks, while the 850-seat Optus Playhouse boasts an Obsession II 1500 channel desk with full tracking back-up, as well as the largest installation of ETC Source Fours in Australia, with 457 Source Fours and 20 Source Four Pars.
Pulsar have announced that the range of training seminars on offer for the year 2000 has been extended, in a continuation of their Training for Excellence programme. The training will encompass all aspects of Masterpiece operating and programming and technical services for the Clay Paky product range. Pulsar will also offer a series of open days which can be tailor made to suit the requirements of colleges, installation companies and corporate users.
Rosco has announced that it can now supply custom metal gobo designs in any size up to A, inclusive of tooling and the first gobo, for around 40% less than was previously possible. The development has been enabled by Rosco's investment in a purpose-built manufacturing facility.
Mark Hayes, formerly with Cronshaw Warren, has joined the Coe-tech Group as operations manager. He will be responsible for managing all of the service departments for the Group's products, and instrumental in overseeing the installation of a new computerised system that will enable the Coe-tech Group to implement New Service Procedures ready for the new millennium. The company are also looking towards opening a new Northern Service Centre and will be starting an out-of-hours Service Help Line in addition to a technical support web site.
Installation of some 250 Selecon luminaires has begun at the Tallinn City Theatre in Estonia bringing to life the performance venues in this complex of fifteenth-century buildings which house eight different stages. The Hell Stage, opened in November 1997 and acknowledged as the most unusual stage in the Tallinn City Theatre, was the first performance site to benefit from the choice of Selecon fittings. Originally planned as an understage, this vast irregular-shaped hall lies six metres underground, hence the name. Aboveground, is the Heaven Stage which is due to open in December.
Roscolab Ltd has announced a restructuring of its European Sales and Marketing divisions. The changes include the development of its specialist sales team, the launch of a new Customer Service Department and expansion of the Marketing Department. Gordon Tomkins, who has extensive sales and account management experience, has been promoted to sales manager for the UK & Scandinavia and a new Customer Service Department has also been developed, headed by Kirsten Smith. Another newcomer to Rosco is Duncan Smith, who joins Joanna Shapley and Denise Piguet in the marketing department as marketing projects manager.
