Pharos - Leaderboard - May 2024

Business

Details
UK - The ALPD has announced the successful candidates for their Design Lumière and their Production Lumière for 2024. This is the first year in which the ALPD has been able to offer a Production Lumière placement to complement its successful Design Lumière programme.
A pathway scheme for emerging lighting designers, the Design Lumière Scheme gives the successful candidate valuable experience of working professionally as an assistant lighting designer for six months and the Production Lumière for four months. For both Lumières, the scheme begins with time spent at Glyndebourne.
The Production Lumière this year, Ellen Butterworth-Evans, is already at Glyndebourne and will continue there until mid-April, when she then spends four weeks at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and two weeks at Lamp & Pencil.
The Design Lumière for 2024 is Imogen Clarke. Imo

Details
Australia - Robe Lighting has acquired LSC Control Systems in Australia, a move that sees the Czech Republic lighting manufacturer further consolidate its portfolio of leading lighting and control brands.
This move follows the purchase of console manufacturer Avolites in September last year.
“We’re delighted that this opportunity arose - it is hugely exciting, and we look forward to a long and positive collaboration,” says Robe’s CEO Josef Valchar. “It will allow us to offer the best complete lighting and control turnkey solutions to our customers and their clients and projects across all sectors.”
As well as diversification, it also gives Robe a manufacturing base in Australia, in addition to its facilities in central Europe and the UK.
LSC’s founder and managing director Gary Pritchard adds: “LSC will gain access to greater investment a

Details
USA/UK - Ambersphere Solutions has officially become a part of North American supplier of entertainment technology ACT Entertainment. This acquisition continues a long-standing relationship between the two entities, especially in their distribution of MA Lighting and Ayrton products.
“We are excited to bring ACT and Ambersphere together and continue to build on our mission of providing technology for our customers to realise their creative vision,” says Ben Saltzman, CEO of ACT Entertainment. “Just like ACT, Ambersphere prides itself on offering industry-leading products with an accomplished staff of experts in sales, service, support and training. I have tremendous respect for Lee (House) and Philip (Norfolk) and am excited to work alongside them as valuable partners to our customers, extending our reach and continuing the strong tradition of excellence Glyn (O’Dono

Details
USA - Sphere Entertainment Co has announced the inaugural Sphere XO Student Design Challenge - a partnership with the greater Las Vegas community that gives select members of the general public the opportunity to see their art featured on the Exosphere.
The Sphere XO Student Design Challenge is a collaboration between Sphere and the Clark County School District (CCSD) and University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) that will provide more than 100,000 Clark County-based students with an opportunity to create art for the Exosphere.
Eight student winners ranging from elementary school through college will be chosen by a combination of voting by the general public on thesphere.com, and selected by professional artists who have designed for the Exosphere, including Refik Anadol and Michela Picchi.
The Sphere XO Student Design Challenge, which will kick off this month, w

Details
USA - Flogging Molly’s 21-city Road To Rebellion tour started 16 February at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut and closed 17 March, St. Patrick’s Day, at the downtown Las Vegas Events Centre.
Keeping pace with all the hand clapping and sing-alongs is a colourful and lively Peter Therrien lightshow that features a 100-percent Chauvet Professional floor package supplied by JDI Productions.
“I do build a page for every song with Flogging, but nothing is timecoded, as it’s all about spontaneity and freshness,” said Therrien who ran his show on a ChamSys MagicQ MQ500 Stadium console. “As far as my colour selection goes, it’s based on the feeling I have for the band’s music. So, for instance, when I hear ‘Drunken Lullabies’ it’s always white. I’ve tried blue and amber in the past, but it just feels wrong. The colour choice has to be in the mom

Details
UK - Guildhall School of Music & Drama has announced a new BA degree in performance design, starting in September 2025. The three-year, full time BA programme will equip students with the practical and imaginative skills required to create designs for stage performances and live events.
Led by stage designer Dr Susannah Henry, the BA in Performance Design is the newest course to offered by Guildhall’s Production Arts department. The Performance Design programme blends studio-based design work with hands-on experience, including collaborating on a wide range of performances using Guildhall School’s state-of-the-art facilities.
Student designers will gain an understanding of the creative, collaborative and practical elements of performance design, developing their skills through studio-based projects, before building to fully realised designs for public perform

Details
China - Outline has announced an exclusive distribution partnership with Guangzhou Aga Audio Technology Co. This agreement grants Aga Audio exclusive distribution rights for Outline products across China, Hong Kong, and Macao.
Over the past years, Aga Audio Technology has successfully installed a variety of Outline’s high-performance point-source systems tailored for permanent installations. With their growing technical expertise, Aga Audio is now poised to expand its offerings to include Outline's line-array systems and audio processors, including Newton. This strategic decision reflects Aga Audio's commitment to delivering comprehensive audio solutions to its customers.
"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Outline for developing products specifically targeted to the Chinese entertainment market,” says Anson Ai, general manager at Aga Audio Technology.

Details
USA - In 2022, Groot Hospitality and Pharrell Williams’ The Goodtime Hotel, upgraded their sound system to a 1 Sound distributed audio system at their rooftop pool club, Strawberry Moon.
Two years after the successful installation of Strawberry sound system, which helped solve the club’s noise pollution issues prior, 1 Sound and Anthem Productions, the audio integrator, made a suggestion to the hotel. They thought it would be a great idea to match their 1 Sound loudspeakers to their signature Strawberry Moon pink and blue right before the start of Music Week and spring break season in Miami.
1 Sound sent two team members to drive down from their manufacturing headquarters in New Jersey, to replace the loudspeaker grilles on site with the new pink and blue fabric grille choices decided on by the hotel. The 1 Sound team refreshed each and every metal grille on site

Details
Canada - PK Sound, the robotic line array company, has added Ranger Son Éclairage (RSE) to its global network following the company’s investment in a PK Sound T8 robotic line source system. Based in Greater Montreal, RSE is taking full advantage of T8’s patented multi-axis robotics to precisely tailor audio coverage to any venue or environment.
“We’ve been following PK Sound for several years as the benefits of its robotic line array technology would be quite valuable to the wide range of projects we cover,” shares Anthony Ranger, vice-president of RSE. “Using PK .dynamics software, we can control the vertical and horizontal coverage of our T8 system to focus sound only where it’s intended, and away from reflective obstacles and unwanted areas. Considering the amount of work we do in urban environments, the ability to mitigate noise pollution while maximising

Details
Qatar - Qatar Vision (Qvision) utilised a wide array of Claypaky lighting for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. The fixtures illuminated pre-match ceremonies, the Fan Zone and coronation ceremony at the 18th edition of the cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation.
Although the event bore a 2023 date, it was scheduled for 12 January to 10 February 10, 2024 due to Qatar’s high summer temperatures. Twenty-four national teams participated with host Qatar the defending champion and, as it turned out, the repeat title winner. Four cities in Qatar furnished nine stadium venues for the games, including Lusail Stadium, with a capacity of nearly 89,000, hosting the opening and final matches.
Based in Doha, Qvision offers a comprehensive slate of event production, technical integration solutions, marketing, creative design,

Details
UK - Thursday 11 July will see Backup Tech’s The Village Fete return to Daytona Sandown Park in Surrey for more fun and frivolity. So, dig out your best tweed and flowery dresses, dust off your cake recipes and get ready to purchase your tickets, which will go on sale at 9am on Monday 25 March for Backup’s Partners and at 9am on Wednesday 27 March for general sale.
“We had such great feedback about last year’s fete that we’re adding more fun and frivolity,” says Backup’s Lee Dennison. “Last year, we changed the whole look and feel of the day to make sure the Village Fete appealed to so many more people outside of the karting.
“This year, we’re building on the success of the fete by adding more fete stalls, a ‘Veg Off’ to complement our very successful ‘Bake Off’, bringing back the Lions Barbers Collective, The Straw Stage for live music an

Details
UK - The desert planet Arrakis came to life in London’s Leicester Square for the world premiere of Dune: Part Two on Thursday 15 February, with nearly 30 tons of sand shipped to the site for the gala created by Limited Edition Event Design. But the rainy weather during the build-up days leading to the star-studded red carpet affair was anything but desert-like. No matter though, the IP65 rated 3.9mm pitch panels were more than up to the task of handling rain.
“For the actual red carpet part of the event when the stars were there, it was just a little chilly and dark, but clear,” said Tom Warden of Milton Keynes-based IPS, which supplied, installed, and ran the gear for the widely publicised premiere. “However, the weather during the build days certainly tested the IP rating of the REM 3IP, as it rained most of the time. The screens passed with flying colours!

Details
Portugal - Nescafé presented its new Dolce Gusto NEO coffee machine in Portugal, which was complemented by a spectacular 182,000 lumen immersive projection display.
ADLC Audiovisuais selected nine Christie projectors to flood the auditorium of the Fundação Champalimaud in Lisbon with light and colour for the official presentation. At the launch event, produced by the UPPartner agency for Nescafé, approximately 300 guests had the opportunity to participate in an unforgettable experience that integrated artificial intelligence, human avatars, video projection, tasting areas, and exclusive personalised animations.
The event placed a special emphasis on the brand’s strong commitment to sustainability, as both the machines and the capsules are made from recycled materials. In addition, all materials used by Nescafé in the presentation were able to be recycled after

Details
Saudi Arabia - Despite only launching in 2022, Gamers8 has become the largest globally recognised Esports tournament. Taking place in Riyadh over eight weeks, this year’s Land of Heroes event kicked off on 6 July, bringing together gaming enthusiasts from all corners of the world, who competed to take home cash prizes and the Gamers8 trophy.
The production behind Gamers8 is considerable, as alongside the intense gaming tournaments it also plays host to live concerts, attractions, and entertainment shows. A line-up of world-renowned artists and DJs, including Afrojack, Macklemore, Iggy Azalea, Imagine Dragons and more performed across its eight stages this year, in a show-stopping production.
Visual design and technology studio bright! studios were responsible for the media playback and virtual production of the gaming tournament elements of the event. bright! worked

Details
Spain - Visitors to ISE in Barcelona were greeted by the sight of a custom-made 7.5m umbrella, where 61,500,000 pixels of animations enlivened every panel using six 10-bit, 4K, 20,000-Lumen projectors which were driven by Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers.
The project was realised by UK-based Motion Mapping, who were challenged with creating the concept and delivering the unusual exhibit, which was rigged on the Epson stand.
“We managed to load up the two Hippotizer Boreal+ MK2 Media Servers with the new Hippotizer 4.9 software and used the SHAPE toolkit to 3D map the undulating surfaces of the umbrella’s many panels,” says Stuart Harris of Motion Mapping. “We constructed a 3D model in C4D and then the real thing was constructed in Germany. SHAPE helped us to calculate everything and visualise it all in pre-production and then blend and line it all up on-s

Details
UK - In operation since 1993, The Forum is an award-winning independent music venue situated in the heart of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, hosting a mix of genres, from rock and punk bands to singer-songwriters, hip-hop acts and more.
To mark 30 years of keeping the music alive, the venue recently upgraded its existing sound system, working closely with sound designer Dan Roncoroni and British loudspeaker manufacturer EM Acoustics.
“I became involved with The Forum around 18 months ago, through a project at the nearby Assembly Hall Theatre,” says Roncoroni. “Impressed with the results, the Assembly Hall recommended my services to The Forum, which eventually led to the system PA upgrade project.”
On hearing the existing system, which was largely as old as the venue itself, Roncoroni suggested an upgrade to the PA system. “We set up a demo of the EM Acou

Details
Germany - Since 1999, Sommer cable has not only been soldering, but also making contacts. Despite the advancing digitalisation and further development of radio technologies, we still need cables and signal connectors in large quantities, be they analogue or digital. Cables still offer the highest signal transmission quality and data (interception) security.
Sommer Cable GmbH was founded in 1999 by Rainer Blanck and Friedhelm Sommer. Together with friends, cable specialist Pascal Miguet, musicians, sound people, electronic engineers and event specialists, they began to develop cables and connectors which became known for their sound quality and user-friendly design.
Today, Sommer Cable stands as a premier cable manufacturer, offering a comprehensive array of products spanning the audio, video, multimedia, broadcast, and hi-fi sectors.
"The foundation of our soluti

Details
Capital News - London has topped a ranking of Europe’s best cities for a second year in a row, with its star spot underpinned by a number one rating for culture. The UK capital pipped Paris to first place on Resonance Consultancy’s list - while Nottingham, currently reeling from council arts cuts, placed 72nd for its "visionary local leadership" and "public spaces".
The 2024 Europe’s Best Cities report ranks the overall performance of metropolitan areas with more than 500,000 residents, according to various different metrics. Ranging from rental prices and cultural attractions to visitor numbers and green space, these metrics are analysed through three key considerations - liability, lovability and prosperity, with London ranking number one for each.
Manchester jumped six places on the 100-strong list, rising to number 27 in part for a "creative rebirth" attribut

Details
Mexico - Helping to extol the advantages of Optocore fibre solutions in Mexico recently, is experienced audio consultant and sound engineer Victor Baeza Evia.
He decided to purchase a set of Optocore DD32R-FX AES/EBU fibre interfaces, along with DD6NE Ethernet switches and X6R converters after originally being introduced to the platform by Dubai-based AgorA LLC, when working on an event several years ago. He returned to the Emirate last December to work with them again on the two-week long, high-profile UN COP28 UAE Climate Change Convention at Dubai’s Expo City.
Speaking of the Optocore acquisitions, he said: “The first time I saw the units I just fell in love with them - I could see they were built like a tank.”
Last month he sub-rented his devices to AV rental company, Total Pro Show, one of three production houses based in his native Mérida, Yucatán.

Details
Germany - Light artist Christopher Bauder has chosen MDG ATMe haze generators and Me2 fog machines as the foundation of his latest installation, Vektor, a personal piece loosely based on his life experiences.
Vektor, Memories in Light & Sound is Bauder’s third installation at Berlin’s Kraftwerk, an old power plant-turned-art gallery in Berlin that Bauder refers to as an ‘industrial cathedral’. The abstract work is a personal ‘memory chest’ using small audio snippets of memories from Bauder’s childhood through to present day: the sound of the sea from his childhood living on an island in the North Sea, church bells on a Sunday, laughter of loved ones, as well as samples recorded from the Kraftwerk building itself.
The recordings can be precisely targeted throughout the building, transforming the building itself into a living, breathing

Details
Czech Republic - With approximately 1,500 students, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague is the largest art school in the Czech Republic. The Academy is divided into three faculties which develop students in the fields of theatre, film and TV, and music and dance.
The high standards of artistic education offered by the institution are reflected by the frequent prestigious awards achieved at domestic and international festivals and events. The Academy’s technical provision is maintained to a high standard, in order to provide its students with the best possible learning environment.
Recently, the Theatre Faculty (DAMU) wished to invest in new loudspeakers to improve provision in a number of its learning spaces, and engaged Milan Úbl of established audio, lighting and AV specialists, DJ Servis to supply and install new systems for nine classrooms used for dance

Details
Italy - TT+ Audio is launching an online training and certification platform. Designed to help sound system engineers get the most out of their audio systems, TT+ Audio Academy enhances pro-audio expertise in mastering live audio technology and large-scale acoustics.
The platform offers two comprehensive courses accessible online 24/7, allowing participants to choose where they start. After viewing the video tutorials for each chapter, participants will undergo an evaluation via a questionnaire. Successful completion of these tests grants access to the practical section of the course, where the participants can apply their knowledge hands-on with a full-scale GTX System.
The practical section can be held either at the TT+Audio headquarters in Italy or at a training centre designated by international offices and partners. The System Technician Level 1 course covers the

Details
UK - Having supported Michael McIntyre tours for many years (as Capital Sound) with Martin Audio solutions, Solotech UK has again been entrusted with providing sound reinforcement on the stand-up comedian’s current Macnificent 2023-24 arena tour.
MLA had successfully graced the last two tours, but this time Solotech switched up to the British manufacturer’s newer flagship large-format line array, WPL.
The Off The Kerb production team behind the tour remains the same, with Neil McDonald once again overseeing the tech. “It’s a pleasure to be working again with Neil and the team at Off the Kerb,” stated Solotech UK senior account manager, Robin Conway. “We discussed the tour back in late 2022 and the only thing we’ve changed is the model of PA. The design is very similar, and Wavefront Precision is a newer and more lightweight cabinet than the MLA,” he add

Details
Slovenia - Popular vocal group Perpetuum Jazzile celebrated their 40th anniversary with a series of high-profile shows at Ljubljana’s Cankarjev Dom, the country’s biggest theatre venue, asking Crt Birsa from design studio Blackout to create lighting suitable for the occasion.
With the assistance of substantial quantities of Robe moving lights, Crt created an impressive visual showcase, working closely with Mark Pirc, brought in as video content creator and co-show director with Aljaz Bastic for these special performances.
Crt has lit the group several times over the last 10 years, and specifically more regularly in the last two after as Blackout has become their permanent lighting design provider. In fact, Crt’s first proper arena design was 10 years ago with Perpetuum Jazzile for their 30th anniversary.
For this show, the basic elements of his programmi
  1. Chauvet on Runway 7 for Fashion Week
  2. Wharfedale Pro on the slopes for Alpine World Cup
  3. Registration opens for Digital Signage Summit
  4. AtlasIED Atmosphere delivers Swiss experience
  5. LIPA installs Audient into Foley studio
  6. Mohegan Inspire raises the bar with Meyer Sound
Page 6 of 1777
Robe - Large MPU
GLP - MPU - May-June 2024

Latest Issue. . .