Canada - Calgary's Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts has taken delivery of eight Clay Paky A.leda B-EYE K10 Easy fixtures for its Jack Singer Concert Hall, an 1,800-seat venue which is one of the most beautiful and acoustically acclaimed venues in North America

Located in the heart of Calgary's downtown Cultural District, Epcor Centre is a six-level complex occupying a full city block. It is one of the three largest performing arts centres in Canada and the largest in Western Canada.

The Centre's head electrician, Kris Ladd, discovered the B-EYE K10 Easy in a demo video taped at LDI. Matt La Brie, in the Calgary office of Christie Lites, brought some fixtures to the Centre for Ladd to look at, and he was impressed.

"We try to stick to buying the well-known and well-supported brands," Ladd explains. "We were looking for LED wash fixtures the size of the K10s

Kuwait - Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) has been hosting the NMK Roadshow across the Middle East region since November last year and completed the series with the last seminar in Kuwait on 12 January 2015.

After the success in Oman and especially Qatar, the distributor of several high quality brands, which were also presented during the roadshow, was pleasantly surprised with the turnout of the attendees in Bahrain and Kuwait. The attendees were interactive and eager to learn about new products and technologies while getting to know the distributor that is covering their region.

The roadshow mostly attracted the AV professionals from broadcast, rental and installation companies. Shure Axient Wireless System, Neutrik Xirium wireless audio system together with Clear-Com, Roland AV and HK Audio products were the most discussed topics during the event.

"NM

USA - DPA Microphones and the Villalobos Brothers, the contemporary Mexican ensemble known for their debut album Aliens of Extraordinary Ability, teamed up for the closing performance of the 2015 NAMM Show.

Playing the GoPro Stage at the Grand Plaza of the Anaheim Convention Centre on Sunday, 25 January, the Villalobos Brothers performed a blend of songs that celebrate the richness of Mexican folk music, with the intricate harmonies of jazz and classical music, which lends to the natural reproduction of the DPA d:facto Vocal and d:vote 4099 Instrument Microphones.

The Villalobos Brothers, comprised of siblings Luis, Ernesto and Alberto Villalobos, are a trio of renowned vocalists and violin players. The group is supported by band members Humberto Flores on guitar, Rosa Avila on drums and Leo Sherman on bass. Having recently acquired the DPA mics for use in both the stud

UK - At the PLASA Awards 2014, the judges said, "The Mythos hybrid automated light works as a hard-edge spot, a beam light, or a wash light with a range of effects. It has excellent colours, incredible brightness, terrific optics, and a small housing. It's also very energy efficient and it has a patented and innovative cooling system. In the Clay Paky tradition, it's a real winner."

Since those auspicious words in October, Ambersphere Solutions have been busy fulfilling orders and shipping Mythos units to numerous clients across the UK. Its hybrid versatility and wide range of effects has attracted the attention of lighting companies and designers alike.

Ambersphere's sales director, Phil Norfolk elaborates on the market reaction to this latest Clay Paky unit, "The interest in Mythos is incredible. It's such a versatile fixture. Rental companies recognise the po

UK - When tasked to create the ambience in a special setting for award winning singer, writer and guitarist Anna Calvi's performance with the Heritage Orchestra at St John's Church, Hackney, east London, lighting designer Tom Campbell combined imagination with a Robe moving light rig and some novel ideas ... to unfold a richly layered piece of lighting sculpture.

Factors galvanizing the production were no flying facilities and only a single phase 63A power supply to run all the technicals - sound, lighting and a full camera shoot. This was split into two single phases to run the production.

In addition to the Heritage Orchestra, with whom Calvi had performed a Giorgio Moroda tribute earlier in the year at Sydney Opera House, the evening saw many exclusive collaborations with a series of special guests.

Tom lit a festival tour earlier in the year for Calvi, including her ince

Moldova - Elation Professional's new Platinum SBX hybrid moving head showed both its brain and brawn at the King of Kings Eagles Series and King of Kings World Grand Prix kickboxing tournaments held 20 December at Manej Sports Arena in Chisinau, Moldova.

Broadcast live on FightBox HD and Eurosport HD respectively, Elation dealer Eventica Grup SRL, a regular staging and technical contractor of KOK tournaments, turned to the Platinum SBX for its multifunctionality as well as its power and dynamism.

King of Kings events are some of the most popular kickboxing events in the world. Intense affairs with pre-bout introductions a vital step in building up the exciting atmosphere, a powerful, dynamic light was need to match the emotion and adrenaline of the fighters themselves. Lighting designer Serghei Mosin of Eventica Grup turned to the Platinum SBX, lining the front edge of an entr

UK - Holo-Gauze, 3D display solution for hologram effects, is set to feature as part of the new series of Gadget Man for Channel 4 after wowing the show's producers, who were "hugely impressed" with its effectiveness, both on-set and on-camera. The ingenious, highly transparent metallic gauze was used to create a giant, revolving holographic vase of flowers during filming of a 'Date Night' episode. The show is expected to air sometime in the Spring.

Holo-Gauze is claimed to be the only gauze able to work with 3D polarised projection systems which use a minimum of two projectors - although it can also produce believable 2D hologram effects using one projector, as was the case for Gadget Man. Holo-Gauze screens can be produced to any dimensions, and hologram sizes are only limited by projector distance and power - assuming the correct lighting is used.

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Denmark - BroaMan's Danish distributor Danmon has been providing broadcast solutions to the country's public service broadcaster TV 2 for nearly two decades.

Last year, when they decided to upgrade one of their SNG trucks (DNK-47) from SD to HD, the Odense based facility moved its commentator intercom onto a Clear-Com platform and added a BroaMan Mux22 transmission device for signal routing.

This has enabled them to transport multiple data and video signals down a single fibre in the SNG truck, including HD-SDI, RS422, Sync and Ethernet network, using Dante as their audio platform.

TV 2 project manager, Kim Hansen, explains, "For years, the truck has been a key component in our technical setup for major sporting events (such as Tour de France, Handball World Cup etc.) where it acted not only as SNG, but as a small OB truck."

This latest upgrade involved stripping

France - Every year, Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) turns the square in front of the building into an ice rink for the citizens of Paris to enjoy ice skating during the winter. This year technical audiovisual specialist, Novelty Group, decided to add enhancements to the traditional Christmas animation on the ice rink, and after conducting stringent testing on the SGM G-Spot LED moving head, placing it under a shower for three days, they were convinced by the IP-rating of the luminaire.

Supported by Sonoss, SGM's local partner, this year's festive installation went very smoothly. "This is typically the kind of site where it would have been very hard and expensive to install waterproof domes to protect standard moving lights, and thus making advanced animation impossible," says Vincent Criulanscy, product & project manager at Sonoss. He further adds that domes do not

USA - As it approached its hundred-year anniversary as a congregation, Highland Park Baptist Church in Columbia, Tennessee sought to revamp its four hundred-seat sanctuary. It hired Church Interiors of High Point, North Carolina to help design and organize the work, which included structural and aesthetic improvements, as well as a new Sharp/Extron video system based around three huge LED screens and a cutting-edge sound reinforcement system.

Now, Danley Sound Labs horn-loaded loudspeakers and subwoofers deliver musical and highly intelligible sound, with power and processing supplied by rock-solid Ashly Audio amplifiers and digital signal processors. The sound system is zero compromise, exceeding Highland Park's hopes for fidelity and quality while still meeting their budgetary requirements.

"Highland Park's old sound system had an undersized sixteen-channel board and fr

UK - XL Video supplied one of its new bespoke mini-cam packages and LED screens for the latest UK and European tour by talented singer / songwriter and Brit winner Ben Howard, working with lighting and visuals designer Andy Rowe.

The tour - Howard's most comprehensive to date in terms of video production - was project managed by XL's Paul 'Macca' McCauley who commented, "We are thrilled to be involved with this fast rising star and an imaginative production design with an interesting and different slant on video."

Andy, Macca, production manager Chris Pollard and tour manager George Sewell met before the start of the tour to discuss video requirements and practicalities, and XL proposed their Pixled F-25 LED screen as a lightweight medium resolution solution that met the creative brief, together with the four mini-cams, which needed to be discreet, tourable and cost-

Europe - Helene Fischer's Farbenspiel tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in late 2014 marked the first set built by Brilliant Stages under Dark Arches Holdings ownership.

The German television presenter and singing star's sell-out tour saw her perform on a complex, multi-level stage with a large LED tree as a spectacular backdrop.

Working from a design concept by Stufish Entertainment Architects, with whom Brilliant Stages has worked on innumerable occasions, the main design realisation was driven from Brilliant Stages' drawing department, led by their chief CAD designer, Mel Welch.

Fabrication of the 22m wide x 12.5m deep x 2.1m high main 'A' stage took place at Brilliant Stages' site in Hitchin. The stage surface incorporated two 5m long travellators, a star trap and rear access steps, with the whole structure built on a rolling aluminium frame for easy deployment. T

Romania - The glittering new Club NOA (Nest of Angels) has opened in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca following a major renovation of a well-known clubbing site on the Strada Republicii.

Oozing fashion and luxury, the club has a potent Martin Audio system based around the W8VDQ, at the heart of an advanced sound and lighting infrastructure costing €500,000 to put together, and boasting 65kW of sound.

The Sound and lighting systems were specified by Romanian installation specialists Simo Sound SRL (Disco Zone), with support from Martin Audio's Product Support Group. The 18 W8VDQ enclosures specified dominate the main room, combining line array and differential dispersion technologies to provide an advanced hybrid solution to the requirement of even coverage over wide angles and throw distances..

The owners, Kàlmàn Jozsef, Horvàth Julieta and Kàlmàn Ladislau had already

Poland - The National Theatre in Warsaw is one of the most important theatrical venues in Poland, dating back to the 18th century. So when the theatre decided to upgrade the old stage management system, Green-Go was the intercom system of choice chosen to create a party line network communication system.

Piotr Jankiewicz who is director of design and integration at Konsbud Audio, the company contracted to install the new system said, "The stage management system covers four stages located in two buildings which are separated by a street, under which is a mini stage located in the passage between the buildings. It was vital that we installed a system that guaranteed communication between all technical work stations. It had to be so much more than a straight forward intercom system."

The new system needed to be able to provide wired and wireless connection, party line

Germany - A few months ago, the walls of St Margaret's church in Munich, Germany, reverberated with "eternal light," or Lux Aeterna. Organised by Christian Bischof, organist and choir director for St Margaret's, the November event featured music from Claude Debussy, Morten Lauridsen, and Gabriel Fauré, and was accompanied by a modern light show controlled by ETC's Congo Kid lighting desk.

Prior to the event's official conceptualisation, Bischof contacted lighting designer Ludwig Hacker to discuss the look of the lighting. Says Hacker: "He wanted to make a special event where the music is supported by a live light show that emphasises the impression and understanding of the music." After Hacker saw the pristine white walls of St Margaret's, he knew it would be the perfect playground for a state of the art light show. A career long ETC control desk user,

UK - uTRAC has supported the Production Services Association (PSA) to offer its members an exclusive discount for selected workforce management packages.

Members of the live event production industry trade association PSA can now benefit from both the uTRAC Core and Core plus packages, providing a comprehensive application for managing and tracking high-volumes of labour.

Andy Lenthall, general manager of the PSA said, "It is our ongoing aim to offer membership advantages by bringing the latest resources from credible systems to benefit their businesses."

uTRAC's founder Ronan Moore said, "Following a fantastic year of new investment and exponential feature developments, we're pleased to offer PSA members our award winning solution for more streamlined crew scheduling and improved communication with their teams. Visit us at the Event Production Show for a live

UK - It is estimated that by 2017 visitors from China to the UK will spend £1bn a year; currently there are approximately 150,000 Chinese tourists who choose to visit London each year. There won't be many who don't take the opportunity to visit Trafalgar Square, feed the pigeons, gaze up at Nelson on his Column and pop into the National Gallery before exiting through Admiralty Arch to walk down towards Buckingham Palace. These iconic images of London are at the top of the 'must see' list for every visitor.

So it comes as not real surprise that Weli Media, the London-based Chinese media organisation that specialises in cross cultural events between the UK and China, chose Trafalgar Square as the setting for a Chinese TV advert. The project required recording facilities for a large group of performers singing as well as foldback to provide tracks for them to dance to. Sound

UK - Brazilian footwear brand Melissa's London store launch attracted a VIP guest list most fashion brands would dream of, so the pressure was on for the store design to impress. The 6,000sq.ft store would follow the brand's 'Galeria' concept, found currently in the flagship stores in Sao Paulo and New York, where shoes are displayed alongside art installations and sculpture.

Melissa's brief to Intevi, the digital solutions provider appointed on this project, was to blend their artistic designs with suitable technology to bring their creativity to life. Intevi knew it was going to need an impressive piece of technology to deliver on these requirements, leading them to super high resolution LED as the display choice.

Commenting on the project, Tom Scott, managing director of Intevi said, "We had previously worked with the contractors on another retail project and they knew

UK - Rose Bruford College students, staff and guests gathered for Sir Richard Eyre's annual President's Talk on Wednesday 21 January 2015 at the College's Rose Theatre.

Sir Richard, who has been the President of Rose Bruford College since 2010 and was director of Great Britain's National Theatre for a decade from 1987 to 1997, is currently working on a number of theatre and television projects, including an adaption for BBC 2 of Ronald Harwood's play the The Dresser, that stars two great theatrical knights--Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Ian McKellen.

The talk centred around readings from Sir Richard's latest book What Do I Know? People, Politics and the Arts (Nick Hern books) and was followed by questions from the audience.

Personal stories of Judi Dench, John Mortimer, Alan Bennett, Margaret Thatcher and Mary Soames (Winston Churchill's daughter) kept the audien

Israel - Top Israeli technical production and rental specialist Argaman Systems from Rosh Hayain lost no time in investing in Robe's new BMFL Spot multifunctional moving lights, taking delivery of their first batch of 60 units to service a variety of ongoing and upcoming projects - one of which was the recent Israeli tour of Michael Flatley's Lord of The Dance's Dangerous Games show.

Dangerous Games started off at London's Dominion Theatre with a lighting design by Paul Normandale - well known for this inventive and out-of-the-box creative vision - before embarking on an extensive European tour which is still ongoing, as the mesmeric magic of Irish music and dance continues to enthrall audiences worldwide.

It played 12 sold out shows in four Israeli cities - Haifa, Beersheeba, Jerusalem - at the brand new 11,00 seater Arena - and Tel Aviv, where it played the 10,

Poland - The biggest live event in Polish Mixed Martial Arts history, KSW 29: Reload, took place this month at Krakow Arena in front of over 16,000 audience members, with thousands more around the globe tuning into the live broadcast in Pay per View. Lighting designer and director Pawel "Spider" Pajak therefore chose the power and effects of the Clay Paky Sharpy, SuperSharpy and A.leda B-EYE K20 to ensure the tournament packed a serious punch.

Pajak's company Fish Eye was also responsible for the whole technical coordination of the event, with Marcin Szczakiel working as programmer and operator and Tomasz Szwelicki leading the technical department.

Organised by one of the leading MMA promotions in Europe KSW Federation, Pajak specified 40 x SuperSharpys, 32 x Sharpys and 24 x B-EYE K20 fixtures from prominent rental operation Transcolor for the event.

"The key

Arts Education Funding - Youth dance and music schemes will benefit from an increased £109m in government spending in the coming year, after the Department for Education pledged its support for cultural education programmes. A number of projects - including the National Youth Dance Company and the BFI Film Academy - will be granted a share of £4m in the 2015/16 financial year. It was also revealed an extra £1.1m with be spent on In Harmony programmes - which aim to engage children in deprived areas with orchestral music - as well as National Youth Music organisations such as the National Youth Orchestra and Music for Youth's Schools Prom concerts.

The Music and Dance Scheme, which provides financial assistance to applicants for specialist arts schools, has also had its financial support bumped up by £1m - bringing its total funding to £29m. In addit

UK - Well known throughout the entertainment industry for its lighting services, White Light will now offer sound equipment and services with the launch of a dedicated audio department.

The London-based supplier has earned its reputation for quality products and reliable service throughout its more than four decades in the entertainment business. The company has taken the decision to expand based on increasing demand, especially from existing clients. "Our success has always come from listening to and understanding our customers," explains Bryan Raven, managing director for White Light. "With more and more clients requesting sound packages and support, offering these services just makes sense."

Leading the department is Lee Dennison, formerly of Delta Sound and Autograph. Since his arrival at White Light in November 2014, Dennison has set out to build the c

UK - When London's Royal Opera House decided to measure the electricity consumption of the Linbury Studio's stage lighting equipment, they opted for a MeasureMyEnergy system, provided by industry consultancy :entertaining sustainability. The modular nature of the MeasureMyEnergy system proved ideal for monitoring 36 key circuits across two separately located major distribution boards to monitor - plus mains incomers at 630 Amps per phase.

Tim Atkinson, technical director at :entertaining sustainability, said: "After a site visit to establish exactly what needed measuring, we put together a package that allowed the Lighting Systems Team to monitor the electrical consumption of the Linbury Studio in real time over the internet."

A 12- or 24-channel Power Distribution Monitor (PDM) with network access sits alongside each distribution board, with current clamps feeding d

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