UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light helped mark the 25th anniversary of the hit musical The Phantom Of The Opera, supplying the lighting to a spectacular party held at London's Natural History Museum after the sell-out anniversary concerts at the nearby Royal Albert Hall.

The concerts - produced by Cameron Mackintosh and the show's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber - were organised to celebrate the phenomenal quarter-decade success of the show. Phantom has played over 10,000 performances at its original London home, Her Majesty's Theatre, has played in 27 countries around the world, has been seen by more than 130 millionpeople, and has a total worldwide gross in excess of $5.6bn. The three concerts featured an all-star cast, and were sold out both at the Albert Hall and at the many cinemas worldwide where the event was also shown.

The post-show party was orga

USA - A new International Green Theatre Alliance (IGTA) has been launched at this year's LDI show in Orlando, Florida. The IGTA formalises the growing partnership between Julie's Bicycle (UK), which works on environmental sustainability across the creative industries in the UK, and the Broadway Green Alliance (USA), which works with the US theatre community and its patrons to adopt environmentally preferable practices.

The Alliance's first project is a new website www.igtalliance.com which will go live in December 2011 and provide an entry point for international practitioners seeking information and resources on environmentally sustainable best practice in the arts. The website will introduce the extensive sustainability programmes of alliance members and direct users to international resources and support networks.

Alliance members will be working together on a range of proj

USA - The 2011 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee was the Greenest one yet. Bandit Lites delivered very green systems for both the main and the second stage at this major event.

Production guru Hadden Hipsley of Lambda Productions once again called on Bandit Lites to serve as prime lighting contractor for the three-day arts and music festival. Bandit's Dizzy Gosnell worked with Hadden, Leslie Radigan, Joel Carmichael, Steve Drymalski, AC Entertainment, Superfly Productions and Coran Capshaws Red Light Management to provide the artists with their illumination needs at the award-winning event.

Artists at the 2011 Bonnaroo included Widespread Panic, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Arcade Fire, Buffalo Springfield, My Morning Jacket, Mumford and Sons, The Strokes, Primus, Robert Plant and The Band of Joy, The Black Keys, Galactic, Wiz Khalifa, The Decemberists, Grace Pot

Germany - when Pope Benedict XVI returned to his native Germany for a historic visit to the cradle of the Reformation, Meyer Sound systems provided audio reinforcement for two key events.

In Erfurt, the Pope celebrated an outdoor Mass for 30,000 from a temporary stage erected adjacent to the majestic cathedral in the city's central Domplatz. To blanket the expansive and oddly shaped open space with sound, Hamburg-based PRG Germany deployed 120 Meyer Sound self-powered loudspeakers. The front arrays and delay towers were configured from a combination of MILO, MICA, and M'elodie line array loudspeakers.

With a remote live feed from the cathedral organ as part of the programme, 10 M3D-Sub cardioid subwoofers were positioned to carry controlled low end into the crowd while limiting bleed onto the stage. UPA-2P, UPM-1P, UM-1P, and UPJunior VariO loudspeakers were deployed for front

Germany - AFMG (Ahnert Feistel Media Group) has made significant changes to distribution and support of its software products for audio measurement and room-acoustical simulation. The company will sell its software, including EASE, EASERA and SysTune, direct to customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India as of September.

"Many of these markets are growing rapidly in both size and technical sophistication," said AFMG's Stefan Feistel. "With direct distribution, we can offer end users better access to both software and technical support."

AFMG already distributes its other software products directly worldwide. These include: EASE Evac, the design programme for audio professionals planning mass notification and emergency systems; AFMG SoundFlow, which simulates absorption and transmission loss in multi-layered wall structures; AFMG Reflex, the scatt

UK - White Light is lending its support to Omnibus Clapham, a charity established with the aim of turning the former library of Clapham, south-west London, into an arts performance hub for the community.

With Clapham's existing library facilities due to relocate to a new building, part of a leisure and residential complex, in 2012, future plans for the traditional library building have been uncertain. Omnibus is a group of local people determined to see the building retained and transformed into a vibrant local arts centre.

To support their campaign, Omnibus is running a series of events in the library featuring famous local residents -so far, acclaimed actress Miriam Margolyes and author and broadcaster John O'Farrell.

To help transform the library into a makeshift performance space, Omnibus' George Owen turned to another local resident, lighting designer Rob Halliday, who

UK / USA - This year has been a memorable one for Irish indie band, The Script and their lighting designer, Jamie Thompson. Not only has he been touring a highly creative lighting set - scalable to arenas and stadiums - but has been rewarded for his efforts by receiving a coveted Knight of Illumination Award.

The lighting design, co-conceived with Bryan Leitch, was inspired by the rustic gold colour artwork of last year's Science & Faith album - and heavy usage of GLP's impression 90 and impression Zoom has helped him to recreate that feel - with more than 100 of the GLP impression wash lights used on the overhead trusses and under the floor grilles as uplighters.

Thompson has been working with the band for almost three years. "I was asked to cover a few shows and ended up getting on really well with the band. They have a lot of ballads and big tracks and they trus

UK - Formerly a popular Mitchells & Butlers pub, the landmark Abercorn Arms in Stanmore was recently purchased by Red Klove, and following a comprehensive, multi-million pound upgrade, has reopened as a bar/restaurant, offering superior cocktails, pan-Indian cuisine (with an African twist) and end-to-end screen entertainment in high-definition.

The new Abercorn opened its doors to reveal a spacious world of wooden floors, cream leather seats and magnolia and maroon walls. In addition to its comfortable lounge and circular bar, there is a 280-cover restaurant at the rear, a separate 120-seat banqueting area upstairs and two glass encased private VIP dining areas for 10. Wander into any of the nine zoned lounge and dining areas and you will be confronted with a superior audio and visual media experience that would do any home cinema proud - designed and installed by the Sound Divi

USA For the Elm Shakespeare Company's annual free summer Shakespeare production in New Haven, Connecticut's Edgerton Park, Robert Juliat followspots once again played a key role, this time for The Bard's Measure For Measure. Some 30,000 people attended performances through August and over the Labour Day weekend.

"It was be our fifth season using Robert Juliat spots," says Jamie Burnett, who serves as lighting designer, production manager, resident set designer and master electrician for the Company. "We used the Super Korrigan [1200-watt HMI] and Topaze [1200-watt MSD] fixtures for the play, and their light output is great."

Previously, Burnett tapped Robert Juliat followspots for The Three Musketeers where the fixtures were placed in towers in a downstage side light position. He says the production was "one of our most elaborate to date

Denmark - Signal Audio, a new distributor for Midas and Klark Teknik products in Denmark, has placed its first order for a large quantity of the new PRO2 and PRO2C live audio systems.

"The very competitive price of PRO2 and PRO2C has obviously created a lot of interest in itself, but the really interesting thing is that customers are now looking at Midas systems in a wider perspective," says Morten Uldbaek, sales manager, pro audio at Signal Audio. "Instead of merely focusing on a console with a snake and a stage box, there are now many networking opportunities, such as the ability to move show files between the different consoles and audio distribution in general."

The first two confirmed Danish clients for the new PRO2/PRO2Cs were Copenhagen rental company Prime, which placed its PRO2C order seconds after seeing a product demonstration at PLASA, and Sound

UK - This year's Reproduced Sound Conference is scheduled for 16-18 November, with the 27th consecutive event returning to Brighton's Thistle Hotel.

RS brings together some of the world's friendliest, most knowledgeable sound specialists, and this year's thought-provoking theme is Sound systems: engineering or art?

Organised by the Institute of Acoustics and supported by ISCE, AES, ABTT, APRS, the conference addresses the design of sound equipment/systems, defining and solving technical problems, plus the very process of design itself - covering: sound for sport; innovation in loudspeaker and amplifier design; applications of network/streamed audio; room design and venue acoustics; quality and intelligibility.

Booking details are available at www.reproducedsound.co.uk

(Jim Evans)

UK - PA/VA specialist Ateis has played a small but significant role in the recent redevelopment of Silverstone motor racing circuit, which has put the UK track back up with the top Formula 1 venues in the world.

The newly opened pits and paddock complex at Silverstone cost £27 million and was built after the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), which owns the venue in Northamptonshire, signed a 17-year contract to host the British Grand Prix. Upgrading the pits was part of the deal and the building was opened during May, in good time for the centerpiece race on 10th July.

Ateis UK supplied the new IDA8 networked public address-voice alarm system, which was specified for Silverstone's new wing by building services contractor NG Bailey and installed by fire and security specialist ADT. Representing its first landmark deployment, the IDA8 is being used for general day-to-to

UK - To the delight of the 800 strong contingent of delegates and guests, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II opened the annual Round Square Conference hosted by Wellington College at the end of September, and UK production company Subfrantic was asked to provide a professional sound reinforcement in the shape of a Turbosound Flex Array system.

Round Square is a world-wide association, founded by educational philosopher Kurt Hahn, consisting of more than 80 schools on five continents sharing ambitious goals from academic excellence to personal development, encouraging participation in community service, work projects, exchange programmes and adventuring.

The annual conference is a week-long affair packed every day with events, workshops, presentations and meetings, and was opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of York, and the King of Greece. Daytime high

USA - Selena Gomez recently completed a successful US tour of 25 cities. The production required a cost-effective sound system with a small footprint that had to deliver uniform coverage and exceptional sound quality in a wide variety of venues.

As FOH engineer Jason Moore explained when asked about the criteria for the PA, "We were looking for the best possible sound we could get in a small, powerful package that would allow us to find a happy medium between amphitheatres, theatres and arenas."

Production manager, Javier Alcaraz, said that, "Delicate Productions, one of the companies competing to provide audio for the tour, had asked me to listen to the Martin Audio MLA system. So I went to a demo in North Carolina where I listened to MLA and was floored. I called Jason and told him, 'I think this is the rig for you, where we are, and what we need to do with th

UK - After nearly 40 years as a live venue, the landmark white building that dominates Birmingham's Dale End was recently facing an uncertain future. Happily, following a thorough refurbishment, the beginning of October saw live music return to what is now called the Birmingham Ballroom. Also returning is AP Security, as the revamped venue's crowd management and safety provider.

The building has had an illustrious, albeit sometimes chequered, career as a live venue. Opened as the Top Rank, later becoming the Hummingbird and the Carling (then O2) Academy, it has hosted many of the most famous rock, pop, punk and urban acts over the years. The O2 Academy moved to a new site two years ago, but new owners have now restored the building to its former glory - including returning the iconic, tile-hung exterior to a spotless finish - opening its doors in early October.

AP Security had

Japan - The latest autumn/winter Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC) fashion show was lit in great style at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo by lighting designer Masaaki Aiba and lighting co-ordinator Yoichi Ashikawa, using 90 Robe moving lights supplied by Tokyo based rental company M Tech Style.

The high profile twice yearly TGC event has grown to epic proportions since its beginnings in 2005 - "bringing Japan's 'real clothes' to the world" - and is a big hit on the fashion calendar, showcasing streetwear by domestic designers. This year over 30,000 people enjoyed the five-hour live stage show, where the designer collections were interspersed with bands, music and other entertainment.

Yoichi Ashikawa of M Tech Style has worked on many previous shows and projects using Robe. The latest TGC show was particularly challenging to light from many different aspects. Not least be

UK - The Albany in Deptford, South London, has purchased two JoeCo BlackBox Recorders. The 24-track digital AES/EBU systems were supplied by Stage Electrics and first used on the recent Alexander Wolfe concert at the theatre.

In addition to visiting artists, the Albany currently has 14 resident companies, some of which make use of its four performance spaces. The theatre's programme encompasses music, theatre and spoken word, as well as an array of educational, training and community-based projects.

The BlackBox recorder can be connected to any live mixing console and used for capturing multi-channel audio direct to an external USB2 drive, in Broadcast WAV format, without requiring a computer. The recorded audio can then be imported into a Digital Audio Workstation for mixing, editing and re-purposing.

Fiona Greenhill, head of operations at the Albany said, "We wanted a

Italy - High End Systems' products play a part in the entertainment spectacle, Ben Hur Live, which debuted 29 September at Rome's Nuova Fiera di Roma (Roman Fair) stadium.

Media Resource Group (MRG) delivered, installed and are now supporting the sound, lighting, rigging and communication services to the production. MRG supplied High End Systems gear from Preworks Austria: 54 intellaspot automated luminaires, two Road Hog Full Boar consoles, two Road Hog Playback Wings and four DMX Processor 8000s.

Preworks' general manager Andreas Reinbacher said, "Ben Hur Live has raised the bar of live spectacles so high, it requires creating a new word for its classification in the production industry: monu-tainment. Monumental entertainment."

Live chariot races are just one part of the production - with 100 performers and 100 animals, specially trained horses, an

UK - Sound Division were recently asked to install a back ground music system in the first UK site of ST ALi - a roastery, coffee bar and restaurant. Located on London's Clerkenwell Road, the two story venue roasts all its coffee onsite, and opened its doors in April.

Sound Division were awarded the contract to install a music system for the new site, with the brief, to provide the chic coffee bar and restaurant with a good quality system that could provide low level background music during daytime operation. The system needed to be capable of being turned up to provide foreground music for evening time operation, when a more vibrant atmosphere is required, particularly in the first floor lounge which can be hired out for private functions.

Martin Audio AQ5 speakers were chosen for the project, with ten units installed over both floors and in the walkways in a two-zone configu

Australia - Gilligan's is Cairns largest party venue boasting thousands upon thousands of punters through the doors every week. Popular with the locals and the travellers, Gilligan's has non-stop party stamina all week long.

From Thursday to Sunday the back deck by the pool is home to some of Cairns most popular live bands and DJ's but unfortunately this doesn't always go down well with the neighbours. The venue was receiving complaints from one nearby hotel in particular and liquor licensing had placed some stringent restrictions on the levels of music to be played.

"Inner city living is growing and you have to keep the community happy," said Anthony Brooks, Gilligan's general manager. "However we felt that we needed to increase the sound volume somehow. The guys at JVG Sound & Lighting showed us the JBN Sound Ceiling and it looked like it would solve the probl

UK - Manchester-based lighting rental company dbn supplied a lighting design and equipment for the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games stage in The Bowl Stadium, Douglas, Isle of Man.

dbn's Nick Buckley designed a lighting scheme for the show which was produced by Walk The Plank - a regular dbn arts based client renowned for their innovative and entertaining large scale shows. Says Buckley: "We are very proud to have been involved in this event. Working with Walk The Plank and their creative director Liz Pugh is always interesting, challenging and engaging, and this was no exception".

Walk The Plank's 30 minute theatrical element of the two hour long Opening Ceremony show - which also featured the Athletes Parade - was divided into three dance-orientated sections. An intro spectacular was followed by a tribute to the Isle of Man's culture including

UK - As the technology for visual displays improves, so do opportunities increase for contemporary audio visual artists to show ever-more complex and intriguing works. BrightSign media players are currently helping three such artists to engage with the public at three London art installations, which challenge viewers to see the world in a different way.

The exhibitions are taking place at the Hayward Gallery, Victoria Miro gallery and Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, respectively featuring artists Pippiloti Rist, Doug Aitken and Yang Fudong. All three use BrightSign HD210 high definition media players - distributed in the UK by Dunstable-based Pixels - to draw the audience into the dramatic and thought-provoking world of the artists.

The systems for each installation were supplied by Olive Audio Visual and installed by Simeon Coreless and Alistair Ashe of KS Objec

UK - Allen & Heath iLive and ZED mixing consoles have been installed throughout a new £18m performing arts venue at The University of Wolverhampton. Called the Performance Hub, the facility brings together the University's Dance, Drama and Music departments into one dedicated building, providing purpose-built facilities, such as a black box theatre and music rooms.

An iLive digital mixing system, comprising an iLive-T80 Control Surface and iDR-32 MixRack with a Dante networking audio card, and additional Mixpad app, have been installed in the main Black Box performance space.

"iLive was chosen right at the beginning of the building's design process, and the infrastructure of the Black Box was then built around how we planned to use it," explains Andrew Lowe, music technician at the University of Wolverhampton, who is responsible for selecting audio equipment.

UK - The apocalyptic early Victorian art of John Martin, depicting biblical catastrophes in vast panoramas, has been dramatically brought to life at Tate Britain - with help from JBL Control 1 loudspeakers.

In curating the exhibition, which runs until 15 January 2012, Martin Myrone and Anna Austen wanted to recreate the impact these paintings originally had when they toured Britain continuously in front of paying audiences in the mid-19th century. In more recent times, Martin's vivid landscapes have provided the inspiration for major movies, science fiction video games, manga comics and album art.

"These paintings were the blockbusters of their time," says Dan Crompton, the Tate's audio visual service manager, who oversaw the technical installation.

One of John Martin's major projects was the completion of a triptych of paintings on the theme of the end of the worl

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