New Zealand - The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is a BBC Worldwide production based on the ever popular Doctor Who television series. Celebrating over 50 years, Doctor Who is one of the most widely broadcast drama series on the planet.

The live show is based on the music of the modern series, composed by Murray Gold and conducted by Ben Foster, a symphony orchestra plays live to video packages displayed on a large projection screen. This is combined with a cast of live characters from the series and enhanced by dynamic lighting interaction.

MJF Lighting was the lighting supplier for the Wellington event. Controlling the lighting system was MJF's new grandMA2 light with an MA onPC command wing working as a backup control surface. grandMA2 has become one of the most popular and sought after control systems in the lighting world.

Production and lighting designe

South Africa - One of Vuyani Dance Company's 2014 dance experiences took the form of an "out-of-this-world" dance piece called Full Moon at the Mandela stage at the Joburg Theatre, Johannesburg. Inspired by the mysteries of the universe, this dreamlike piece claims to take audiences "on an epic journey into the celestial realm and back to earth, riding the mysterious carpet of the time-space continuum in a magical flight of the imagination."

The visual possibilities for a show like this show proved irresistible for UK-based lighting and set designer, Declan Randall, who returned to South Africa specifically to work on the project. He used the diverse services of local theatre equipment rental supplier Gearhouse Splitbeam to help bring the concept to life.

"I have had a long and wonderfully collaborative relationship with VDC since the company be

USA - Elation's new SixPar Series of indoor and outdoor PAR colour changers features a revolutionary six-colour LED multi-chip that provides an expanded palette of colours, including stunning ambers, true whites and even ultraviolet. Useful for production applications or installations as a wash light, uplight, wall wash, truss warmer and more, the SixPar's high-power single lens RGBWA+UV LEDs provide a creative colour boost to the lighting designer toolbox.

Available in four versions - SixPar 100 (indoor), SixPar 100IP, SixPar 200IP and SixPar 300IP, with 7, 7, 12 and 18 x 12-watt LEDs respectively - all luminaires in the series are wrapped in a rugged die-cast aluminium housing and feature 15° beam and 25° field angles.

All SixPar luminaires house an electronic strobe and are capable of smooth dimming from 0-100% with excellent stability throughout the range. They als

UK - The latest creative stage luminaires from Philips Entertainment's four premier brands - Selecon, Showline, Strand Lighting, and Vari-Lite - will be on stand 55 at this year's ABTT at London's The Old Truman Brewery.

Following successful outings at Prolight + Sound and PLASA Focus earlier this year, Showline is exhibiting the SL NITRO 510C LED strobe, which adds full RGBW capabilities into the same compact size luminaire as the SL NITRO 510, while maintaining similar massive output, multiple zone control and continuous-on abilities.

Showline is also showing the SL WASH 350, a compact moving washlight with three independent zones of homogenized RGBW control. In addition, budget minded projects will appreciate the new SL ePAR 180 and SL eSTROBE 130. These two luminaires offer high output and innovative features in a compact size.

Philips Selecon will be on stand to demo th

USA - Elation products were again put to work across several stages at the 2014 Coachella music and arts festival but this year also fulfilled a new role as powerful site lighting

Elation gear has become a staple of the Coachella Festival as it has grown to become one of the largest and most successful music festivals in the U.S. This year, Coachella hosted more than 500,000 people over the festival's two weekends with headliners Muse and Arcade Fire, along with a list of surprise guests and more than 180 other acts, delivering another memorable event.

Elation dealers Visions Lighting, AG Lighting and Felix Lighting supplied an abundance of Elation lighting for this year's festival. Used all around the festival site including the Outdoor Theatre Stage (Platinum Beam 5Rs - Visions Lighting), the Sahara Tent (Platinum Spot 35s, Opti Tri 30s and Design LED 60 Tri-strips - AG Ligh

USA - Miami's Club E11even is a 24-hour hybrid club, operating as an intimate lounge space by day and a gentleman's club by night with an expanded space, Cirque Du Soleil acts, aerialists, contortionists and interactive theatrical characters. Recently, Miami-based iDesign installed Martin Professional lighting fixtures to be the centre of all parts.

With a total of 38 Rush Profiles (32 - main room, six - day room), 16 Rush Beams in the main room and three Hazers (two - main room, one - day room), Club E11even chose Martin for its power and, most importantly, its reliability.

"The design grew from a bunch of ideas," stated Michael Meacham, iDesign Productions. "We saw the new Rush line at the Prolight + Sound Show in Frankfurt and we were very intrigued. We knew we needed a fixture with the power and LED engine that could go nonstop and the Rush line was a great

UK / USA - Le Maitre Ltd, a leader for over 35 years in the manufacture, design and development of pyrotechnics, smoke and haze machines and other special effects, announced that it has hired Bruce Baum as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Baum will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Le Maitre's US operations and the oversight and management of Le Maitre group's financial team. He will be based at Le Maitre's US location in Las Vegas, Nevada. Baum's efforts will be to support the current management team in the development and implementation of Le Maitre's growth strategy and continue to improve the company's delivery of products and services to Le Maitre's worldwide customer base.

Most recently, Bruce was the chief financial officer of Pyrotek Special Effects, Inc. a leader in providing special effects for concert touring, live perfor

UK - Avolites and Avolites Media's industry-leading range of control consoles and media servers will be available for hands-on demos on Stand 69 at this year's ABTT Theatre Show.

The Avolites team will be exhibiting its 'ultimate in live control' Sapphire Touch and new Wing, offering an additional 30 Motorised Faders and third hi res touch screen. Avolites' hot off the press Titan Mobile Fader Wing - which enables expansion of every Avolites Titan console, giving direct access to extra handy features - will be on stand for demo and hands-on experience.

The entire Titan range, two Titan Network Processor systems and the Tiger Touch II with Wireless Remote are also available for demo and hands-on experience.

Avolites will also be previewing the Titan V8 software on the Tiger Touch II - featured highlights include Multiuser, Global and Nested Palettes, Highlight Relevant Palett

USA - Set in the pastoral 'Spirit of Suwannee Music Park' and featuring 15 different yoga and meditation sessions on topics ranging from breath work and mantras to the flow arts of hoop and poi, the Aura Music & Arts Festival is one of the most mellow events on the music fest calendar.

Organisers of the annual gathering, which began in 2010, wanted to convey this uplifting mood on stage. The Design Oasis team helped them do just that, in part by using the MVP 12 LED video panel and COLORado 1-Tri IP LED wash from Chauvet Professional to frame their performance stage with a lush variety of colours and ethereal images.

"We created a 12' by 6' overhanging LED video display at the front of the stage that angled down at a 45 degree angle, plus we used some added MVP 12s on the side," said Luccas Oliveira, co-owner of Design Oasis, one of south Florida's biggest 24/7 renta

USA - Music City held its annual Grammy Block Party with lighting provided by Bandit Lites. The private event for members of The Recording Academy was held at Owen Bradley Park and included performances by Chris Young, Kacey Musgraves and Martina McBride. Two-time Grammy award winner Jim Lauderdale hosted while cast members of ABC's Nashville mingled with the crowd and even performed on stage.

Lighting designer Mike Marcario utilised Martin MAC 2000 Washes for the downstage front wash, along with Martin Mac Auras and GRN Batten 3-36's for the mid and upstage bars. He also included 8-lite moles and par 64's downstage for audience light and key light, respectively and operated a GrandMA 2 console.

One challenge Marcario prepared for was the weight factor. Due to the mobile stage and the fact that the long summer days meant most of the set times would take place before the sun se

UK - Students at London's Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance have used an Avolites Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II to stage a concert as part of a specialist module on lighting design for live music.

The students opted to take 'The Concert Lighting Project', offered in addition to their theatre lighting design courses at the college by Rose Bruford programme director and lighting designer Hansjorg Schmidt.

Avolites' head of training Amy Schofield visited Rose Bruford to demo the Sapphire Touch and Tiger Touch II consoles, with specific lighting design for live music tuition from LD Dave "Bickie" Lee, who has worked with high profile pop acts including One Direction and Westlife.

The students were tasked with creating a lighting design for a concert at Rose Bruford's 150-capacity theatre, working together on lighting design and programming, and taking

Belgium - LumenRadio and Controllux have confirmed a partnership where Controllux will now distribute LumenRadio's wireless lighting controls products in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Commenting on the partnership, LumenRadio's sales & marketing manager Jessica Björk says, "We are delighted to partner with Controllux, a company that shares our strong commitment to providing the best technology, the best support and stands by their customers all the way. Controllux are also a highly respected company within their territories. Their extensive experience both in live productions and installations will be invaluable to growing our business in Belgium."

For more than 45 years, Controllux has played a very active role within the lighting industry. Based in Meerhout, Belgium, Controllux has an impressive distribution portfolio of leading premium brands such as Robe Lighting, ADB

South Africa - LD Renaldo van den Berg and production manager Victor Vermaak from Johannesburg based design and technical production specialist AV Unlimited created a spectacular lighting scheme utilising Robe moving lights for the South African leg of the Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone launch.

The VIP gala dinner event was staged in a special Super Dome structure built by In2structures and erected adjacent to the Wanderers Cricket Stadium in Illovo, Johannesburg. AV Unlimited was brought on-board to create the technical production design by event producers Mela Events, and Robe moving lights were right at the heart of the lighting concept.

AV Unlimited has worked on several Samsung launches for Mela Events in recent years. However in terms of format, look and feel, this one took a departure from previous ones, and instead of being styled around a DJ / party atmosphere, the ente

UK - The State and Orpheum Theatres in Minneapolis, part of the Historic Theatre Group/Broadway Across America have installed Lycian 1295 ELT followspots. A total of 7 were sold by Monkey Wrench Productions, serving the Twin Cities.

According to the Orpheum's Head Electrician Bill Devins: "Lycian 1295s are considered the theatrical industry standard. We are a Broadway touring house, and are happy to have a product that touring and local personnel will be both be familiar with and be bright enough at 3Kw with our other gear."

Seth Scott of Monkey Wrench Productions says: "Lycian's quality of light and service is unparalleled in our industry. For the demanding needs of road houses there is little competition for Lycian follow spots"

"We're proud that our products were chosen to be used in these wonderful, historic venues. Great Broadway road shows will

Turkey - Clay Paky has announced a partnership with Asimetrik Sound, Light and Display Systems. The Turkish company, which specializes in the marketing and installation of technology and systems for show, corporate and architectural environments, said it was delighted to forge a partnership that involves marketing and providing technical assistance for all Clay Paky products.

Asimetrik is based in Ankara and Istanbul and can count on a close network of partners throughout Turkey, with branches in Antalya and Izmir.

This partnership replaces the previous contract between Clay Paky and Samim Mutluer's SF Ses ve I??k Sistemleri A.?., considering the existing agreements between SF and the Harman Group.

Alberico D'Amato, Clay Paky's sales manager, said,"Asimetrik is a solid and dynamic company with a strong presence throughout the country, and we are sure it will be able to

Australia - Robe is supporting UK based light artist and creative director of Dark Art London, Simon Brockwell at the 2014 Vivid Festival of Music, Light & Ideas in Sydney, Australia, in the realisation of his bold and innovative light sculpture, Sky Flower.

Robe is working in close collaboration with its Australian distributor The ULA Group and leading Australian Robe rental partner Elite Sound & Lighting from Canberra to supply and coordinate the equipment for Simon's interactive installation which can be experienced live between 23 May and 9 June.

Sky Flower is one of two installations at a new site for the festival in Martin Place, right at the core of Sydney's buzzing CBD, adjacent to the Cenotaph and also near to Channel 7's downtown TV studio, so it will attract a huge amount of attention.

The equipment being utilised by Simon includes one Robe MMX Blade, four 600E Be

USA - Czech Republic-based LED lighting manufacturer Anolis, the architectural division of Robe Lighting, has appointed Darin Fowler as national business development manager in the US, effective 5 May 2014. Fowler, most recently with Kreon Inc., will be based in New York.

This recent hiring is due in part to increased demand by U.S. customers as business continues to grow under new CEO Bob Schacherl. This is the latest of several new US appointments announced in the past months in order to provide the best sales support and customer service.

"It's exciting to see the level of customization and competitive lead times available throughout the ANOLIS product line," said Fowler. "The robust quality and innovative nature of the product is remarkable.

"Additionally, I've always had respect for Bob Schacherl and it's great to be part of his talented team."<

UK - Avolites has announced a restructuring of the board of directors, with managing director Richard Salzedo stepping back into the role of director, and Steve Warren ascending to the role of Avolites Group MD.

Founder shareholders Steve Warren, Richard Salzedo and financial director Meena Varatharajan purchased Avolites from previous owners Carlton TV in 1991. Since then Richard has worked for Avolites as research engineer and R&D director, overseeing hugely successful projects such as the Sapphire and industry changing Avolites Pearl console before moving on to become managing director. He now hands the reigns of control to Steve who has started with Avolites in 1984 and in his 30 years with the company has been employed as electrical wireman, test engineer, service engineer, technical sales, and ultimately sales director.

Steve's passion for integrating video with lighting

USA - Devoted 311 fans swarmed to New Orleans this year for the ultimate celebratory concert experience on 11March, better known as 311 Day. Showcasing a culmination of eleven albums, including their most recent studio album released earlier this year, titled Stereolithic, Martin Professional Atomic 3000 DMX strobes (10) and M6 lighting console were deployed by Joe Paradise, lighting designer.

311, an American rock band from Omaha, Nebraska formed in 1988, created 311 Day in 2000 when the band played 47 songs straight. Since then, the band has consistently increased its set list, including over five-and-a-half hours of music this year.

"The biggest challenge is being able to programme at a high rate of speed and to be able to have most of the songs programmed 'cue to cue'," Paradise said about the M6 console. "I have used Martin consoles since the Maxxyz

UK - Relationships that have had a big influence on Gary Barlow's latest tour. Barlow is a master of his genre, as he has amply demonstrated by selling out all 17venues around the UK. His first solo outing onto the arena circuit, show director Kim Gavin along with designer Tim Routledge and production director Chris Vaughan, elected for a minimalist approach to staging, but with an emphatic widescreen approach to video.

Tim Routledge comments, "Gary wanted to keep as close to his audience as he had on last year's theatre outing. At the same time we needed a bigger show to suit the scale of venue. Kim is the show producer, he and Chris Vaughan set the guidelines; the resultant stage design has barely changed from my first renderings. The stage is a neatly defined smooth oval with the band wrapped around one step up behind Gary. An über-wide 100 foot screen forms the back wa

USA - Alternative rock band The Pixies have made quite the comeback after their revival 10 years ago, and are now on a worldwide tour with a full lighting rig from Martin Professional.

Full service lighting, sound and rigging rental company based in New York, See Factor, worked with Myles Mangino, lighting designer for The Pixies, to create a rig featuring 15 MAC Viper Profiles, 12 MAC Auras, four RUSH MH3s and three Jem K1 Hazers.

The Pixies, who recently stopped at the renowned Coachella Music Festival after their reunion tour began nearly 10 years ago, needed a versatile lighting solution designed for different venues, stages and festivals.

"The real challenge was to have a show that could be as closely as possible duplicated in markets across the world," stated Mangino. "Having a kit that was small enough to fit in a container, and also using fixtures that

UK - The stars of ETC's stand (number 53) at this year's ABTT show, 11-12 June in London, will be ETC's newest lighting system, Cobalt, along with the Source Four® LED Series 2 luminaire. Stand visitors will also be able to take the opportunity to see a range of other new and improved products that have been designed with theatre users in mind.

The new Cobalt system that will be on display has an all new operating style that allows operators to keep their eyes on the stage and not on the controls. The Cobalt line - which includes Cobalt 20 and its smaller, but no less powerful sibling, Cobalt 10 - has been receiving great reviews from users for its speed of operation, with lighting designer Rob Halliday writing, "once you get yourself into the Cobalt mindset, you can achieve very much very quickly."

Also being shown will be the Source Four LED Series 2 luminaire,

Sweden - Over 150 Clay Paky fixtures were used on this year's popular Melodifestivalen tour with the Sharpy Wash 330 being singled out as a 'mind-blowing' fixture by lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson.

The Melodifestivalen tour is part of Sweden's national competition to find out who will be representing the country in Europe's annual Eurovision Song Contest. Jönsson had to create a high-spec touring lighting design that captured the imaginations of the contest's live and at-home audiences.

"The brief for the show was to create a visually stunning environment for the performance of the 32 songs," explains Jönsson. "I went for a 'Metal meets Eurovision' look with an old-school 'ACL-look' lighting rig but with ultramodern technology. My first inspiration for the look of the rig was actually an old Def Leppard logo since the first drafts of the stage and set remi

Denmark - When Austrian drag act Conchita Wurst was crowned the winner of the 59th annual Eurovision Song Contest in the Danish capital of Copenhagen, it brought to the end a spectacular show, in which SGM's pioneering LED lighting was a clear highlight of the rig.

In a groundbreaking design, the show's creative director, Per Zachariassen and lighting designer Kasper Lange (with whom he has worked for ten years) ensured that content throughout the 26 artistes performing could be delivered to four different surfaces, allowing the stage to be transformed from act to act. This included the huge, classic SGM LED back wall - measuring 110m wide by 13m high - and it was here that over 350 SixPack blinders were used to such dramatic effect.

Once again, SGM had been appointed an official technical event supplier as the evergreen event arrived in the company's own back yard, tak

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