UK - Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance has announced the appointment of Clarie Middleton, currently chief executive of the Hackney Empire, as its new principal and chief executive officer. The appointment of the eighth principal of the college was made by the governing body of the College. Clarie Middleton will take up her new post in February 2018. She is the first woman since Rose Bruford to be appointed to the role. Clarie has over 25 years’ experience as an arts and cultural leader. She began her career working for Welsh National Opera before joining the Arts Council’s Touring Department. This was followed by the formation of Clear Day Productions which commissioned and staged co-productions with Bristol Old Vic and Plymouth Theatre Royal. She went on to work with Thelma Holt Ltd for five years, touring large scale theatre productions and working
USA - CrossRoad Baptist Church in Ames, Iowa was at a crossroads. The sound system it had relied on to deliver spirited services in its 450-seat auditorium had never possessed the kind of intelligibility the church members and staff had hoped for and age wasn't helping matters. Originally called in with the hope that improved acoustics could do the job by itself, A/V integration firm Communication Innovators (Des Moines, Iowa) diagnosed the larger and deeper issues that were preventing congregants from fully immersing themselves in CrossRoad's services. The church's new Dante-connected digital system relies on a bank of high-value, high-reliability Ashly Audio nX-Series multi-channel amplifiers with optional Dante I/O. "CrossRoad Baptist Church already had some acoustic treatment to deal with the reflective surfaces and they hoped they could address complaints by getti
Russia - When Moscow’s original Luzhniki Stadium was demolished in 2013 to give way for the construction of a new stadium, it was with the 2018 FIFA World Cup in mind. At the end of 2015, a new tender document was drawn up on behalf of the principals, The Big Sport Arena Luzhniki, for the 81,000 seat stadium, with the technological requirements detailed by Moscow integration specialists S-Pro Systems, together with the German company Broadcast Solution. Selected by the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup bid as the venue for the Final, the Stadium will also be used as a heritage venue after the Championship. At the heart of the new network broadcast transmission are some 57 Optocore and BroaMan fibre interfaces, designed in a fibre ‘star’ out of the ring topology, and supplied by Moscow-based distributor Audio Solutions. After the bid was accepted they became involv
Denmark - Aalborg Theatre is in the heart of Denmark’s attractive fourth largest city’s old town area. Established in 1878, it has a rich and colourful history and is known as a ‘heavyweight’ on the Danish theatre scene. This long standing critical fortitude was further advanced with the arrival of Hans Henriksen as artistic director in 2015, who had several key objectives including one to make the production programme more dynamic, cutting-edge and accessible. One of the ways in which he’s achieving this is by changing the scheduling to repertory style, with several productions running simultaneously in rotation over several weeks, and this fundamental shift in turn demanded a different approach to lighting. The installation of Robe DL series moving lights has helped complex shows to be quickly and efficiently turned around - de-rigged, re-rigged and re-lit
Switzerland - The Zurich Opera House entered the 2017/18 opera and theatre season following an extensive technical renewal that included new audio equipment, modernisation of its workflows, and fresh approaches to its sound reinforcement. The Lawo mc²66 mixing console that was previously installed in the sound control room has been replaced with an mc²56, with a second an mc²56 also installed in the auditorium – making the sound control desk and auditorium desk mirrored consoles. Operated in mirror mode, the configurations, snapshots and adjustments of parameters that are performed on one console can also be recalled at the other. This ensures efficient preparation of performances, particularly where Microport systems are increasingly being used. Managed in this way, musical and children's opera projects planned for the future will be easier to mix in the hall. Th
World - Mojo Barriers is supplying almost 2km of its bespoke touring barrier this autumn to a range of this year’s most anticipated tours. With Mojo’s European office supplying tours including The Rolling Stones, Queens of the Stone Age and Queen & Adam Lambert, and the US office working with Katy Perry, Gorillaz, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruno Mars, 21 Pilots and Nick Cave, Mojo Barriers is in the midst of a busy touring season. For Katy Perry’s Witness tour, the shape of the stage thrust required a carefully considered barrier configuration. The final design consisted of over 100m of barrier with many vario corners which enabled Mojo to create a flawless barrier set which followed the unusual contours of the stage perfectly. The system will be used for the remainder of the American leg and will continue to be used when the tour reache
Finland - Helsinki City Theatre, the biggest professional repertoire theatre in Finland, has recently reopened its doors after an extensive three-year refurbishment and upgrade process. The technical part of the multi-million Euro renovation project was designed and managed by international theatre consultants Theatreplan. “We were first approached by HCT in 2014 to work with them on a complete refit of the entire building,” explained Theatreplan director and stage engineering specialist, Dave Ludlam. The project started in March 2014 and was delivered in July 2017 for inauguration in August to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the modern Finnish nation. Theatreplan carried out work on two of the six stages within the building: the ‘big stage’ with a capacity of 947, and the 347-seat ‘small stage’. The big stage now benefits from a re-shaped proscenium
UK - L-Acoustics ARCS WiFo system was specified for the Belfast Empire’s Empire Laughs Black Comedy Club to cope with the venue’s challenging configuration and architectural restrictions. Owners Wine Inns Ltd required a new, high specification FOH sound system installed that would deliver excellent audio coverage across the venue’s dancefloor, as well as the raised tiers of seating areas and audience vantage points. The company’s technical manager, Will Barrett, contacted technical production company, Adlib, who recommended the L-Acoustics. “The venue operator required an updated sound system that would supplement and support live performances for a wide number of genres from spoken word and comedy, to folk music and rock ’n’ roll at their vibrant and very popular city venue,” says Adlib director, Roger Kirby. “The venue’s ornate interior architectu
UK - East London venue Troxy was crowned Best London Event Venue – 500 to 1,000 attendees at the London Venue Awards, 20 October 2017. Celebrating the best of London’s venues, suppliers and partner organisations, the London Venue Awards took place at The Brewery and recognised excellence and exceptional quality from venues across the capital. Daniel Smith, Troxy’s head of sales & events reports: “London is spoilt with an array of amazing venues and events professionals who work around the clock to bring incredible events to the capital. We’re honoured to have taken home such a prestigious accolade at this year’s London Venue Awards and to have been in a room with so many inspiring individuals celebrating and recognising each other’s success and achievements. Congratulations to all the winners.” (Jim Evans)
UK - Cambridge-based co-educational boarding and day school The Leys has recently upgraded the drama technical facilities of its purpose-built theatre and performing arts centre with the latest energy-efficient Spotlight Green Line white LED Fresnels. As part of the lighting upgrade of the school’s 337-seat performance venue, theatre manager Paul Durose contacted A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET) to replace the existing conventional Fresnels / PC white lighting fixtures with energy-efficient LED equivalents. Paul had previously worked with AC-ET to upgrade the theatre and main drama studio's PAR and Profile fixtures to full colour-changing LED versions, so he approached them again to recommend several suitable white fixtures from their extensive portfolio of theatrical LED solutions. The company's specialist lighting sales division arranged for an on
Germany - Absen recently expanded and upgraded its showroom setup at their European HQ in Rüsselsheim, Germany. In the new set up, the company is showcasing its bestselling models and a number of new LED solutions developed for a number of industries including corporate, retail, rental staging, OOH and sports. The majority of the LED screens in the showroom are fed content from an AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Stage media server. The Wings software interface gives Absen technicians the ability to quickly change and replace professional audio-visual content, depending on the profile of the showroom visitors. Oliver Straub, the Absen technician in charge of the showroom comments: “Since we opted for the Wings Engine media server, handling content has become a lot easier for us. We now have one main system interface, that we know is reliable and can easily be adjusted.
UK - Bristol Music Trust, the organisation that runs Colston Hall, has appointed Clare Jack, the development director at Bath Festivals, as chief operating officer. Clare will start at the organisation in October. An experienced arts manager, Clare brings with her over nine years’ experience in the arts industry, following an extensive career in private sector change management. In her new role Clare will be working closely with Louise Mitchell, chief executive of Bristol Music Trust, to take a strategic overview of the financial, commercial and operational competitiveness of the organisation. As chief operating officer, Clare will be responsible for driving forward the financial imperatives of the business in order to support, develop and sustain the charitable objectives of the Trust. Clare joins the senior management team at Colston Hall, who are responsi
Belgium - AED Display and AV Stumpfl have organized a Wings Certified Operator Bootcamp from Monday 28 August until Friday 1 September 2017 at AED Studios, Lint (Belgium). The trainer will be Rainer Brandstätter, project manager & trainer AV Stumpfl. Says Rainer, “On the first day of this five-day bootcamp we will tackle every aspect of setting up your show, starting with the physical installation and the troubleshooting of the system. On the second day we will learn more about the different modules (Wings / Vioso / Avio / Touch) and their capabilities. “One by one we will introduce you to them and show you the basics which will allow you to explore them further on your own pace. This part will be mainly focused on the Wings software. Days three and four will include more advanced use of Wings and Avio. At this point you will dive into the Avio software and l
USA - When an event space owner and esteemed car collector in Pottsville, Pennsylvania decided to model a cavernous 4,000sq.ft room after a vintage drive-in movie theatre, he knew that top notch technology would be necessary to truly create the coveted 1950’s experience. That’s why he called on local technology integrator Tom Walker of the CI Guys to turn his vision into a reality with a custom-built entertainment system anchored by ELAN control. “First and foremost, a reliable control system is the most important factor when designing a unique and complex system such as this,” Walker explained. “It’s imperative that the technology is responsive and accessible during private events. That’s why we installed a central ELAN system to control both the sophisticated theatre and multi-room audio system. “ELAN also controls the entire building’s Lutron light
UK - Storyhouse in Chester is a new theatre, cinema and library, housed in a renovated art deco Odeon Cinema building. Located in the city centre, it is the biggest project of its kind outside of London. (A detailed report on the evolution of The Storyhouse features in the latest issue of LSi - plasa.me/lsidigital). The £37m renovation has seen the building revitalised and it now houses an 800-seat auditorium, a 200-seat studio theatre, a restaurant, two bars and a 100-seat boutique cinema. Leading production solution specialist White Light was contracted to supply all of the loose entertainment equipment, which included lighting, audio and video. Jonathan Haynes, WL’s business development manager and William Bray, business development support at WL, brought Doughty Engineering on board to supply a range of IWB boxes. Jonathan commented: "For the Storyh
UK - Natural History Museum has strengthened its venue hire team with two new appointments, ahead of the Museum’s relaunch of its main event space Hintze Hall on 14 July. Joining the team is Gavin Bevan who has recently been welcomed to the Museum as operations manager, bringing over a decade of hospitality and events experience including six years delivering conferences, private banqueting and match day hospitality at the Kia Oval. His responsibilities will be to ensure a smooth collaboration between clients, accredited suppliers and the museum, resulting in world-class event delivery. Susie Williamson, will join Bevan as the second operations manager, bringing with her five years of events experience within the heritage industry, having worked with the National Trust and the Royal Geographical Society. Susie’s experience ranges from organising family-friendly eve
UK - Garsington Opera Pavilion has undergone a number of major additions to its existing structure ahead of its summer 2017 programme of events that started at the beginning of June, thanks to Unusual Rigging. Visitors to the pavilion will this year experience enhanced protection from the unpredictable British weather as well as additional flexible space beneath the seating tier which will increase the champagne bar area as well as acting as a gallery space. Angus Boyd-Heron, events manager for Garsington, said: "The award winning pavilion which Unusual constructed in 2010 was built as a demountable structure and has gone from strength to strength. Each year, we bring Unusual Rigging back to make some additions and improvements, which have escalated into some pretty major works as our ideas have become larger. As our ambitions grow and our season now extended enabling more p
UK - WI has supplied staging, elevators and extensive automation elements to the Take That ‘Wonderland’ tour which kicked off at the Genting Arena, Birmingham. The lively, colourful carnivalesque aesthetic is the vision of the band’s creative director Kim Gavin and the result of some serious creative and technical talents who have collaborated to bring action packed drama to a strong, highly entertaining performance by the band. The WI team was led by Hans Willems and Koen Peeters and the company was asked on-board by production manager Chris Vaughan. They worked closely with production designer Ray Winkler for Stufish, scenic designer Misty Buckley, lighting designer Tim Routledge and video designer Alex Leinster to specify and construct the numerous custom elements. To deal with the complex and rigorous health and safety aspects of the project WI brought
UK - Liz Hobbs Group, one of the leading promoters and producers of concerts and events in the UK, has invested in a complete LED video wall system from the video division of A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd. (AC-ET). Liz Hobbs, who are promoting and producing tours and concerts by Tom Jones, Little Mix, Olly Murs, Craig David and Shane Filan this summer, started using the system at the first gig of the UB40 tour, which opened at Inverness‘ Northern Meeting Park in late May. The 33sqm, IP65 rated ProLights AlphaPIX6T LED wall consists of 72 panels and was supplied with a full range of rigging, networking, control and ancillary equipment. It will provide the main stage backdrop for many of the shows this summer. In addition to the LED wall itself, AC-ET supplied video transmission equipment including, Luminex GigaCore data switches, tvONE video switcher / s
USA - Describing Father John Misty’s recent shows as “concerts,” doesn’t quite do them justice. There’s plenty of good music on the artist’s current tour in support of his Billboard chart topping Pure Comedy album, but his engrossing and provocative performance is almost as theatrical as it is musical. Throughout his two-hour plus show the artist, whose real name is Josh Tillman, moves from captivating the audience with his rich lush sound, to startling them with theatrical flourishes. Dropping to a knee and clutching the mic to his heart one minute and emulating the hand gestures of a preacher the next, he enthrals audiences with his mix of music and drama. Supporting this multi-faceted performance every step of the way is an equally engaging and varied lightshow that designer Peter Zellan is running with a ChamSys MagicQ MQ80 console. Zellan,
USA - After 14 years of prayer and patience, Grace Orlando church recently opened the doors of its first designated worship space. A critical consideration from the outset was pristine and even audio coverage across all 600 seats, and thanks to a carefully researched sound system built around Adamson Systems Engineering S-Series loudspeakers, that’s exactly what they got – and a lot more. “Full coverage is something we’ve lacked over the past 14 years at our part-time facility,” comments Worship Pastor Chad Wyatt, who boasts a background in production technology. “We wanted everyone to hear the word clearly and feel like the music is totally immersing them in the new space.” The music ministry is a vital part of the church’s dynamic and spirited services, with a worship band that includes everything from full drums to guitars and keys to a horn section;
USA - An extensive renovation project at Crossgates Baptist Church in Brandon, Mississippi, saw a complete sanctuary AVL refresh over the course of two years. Beginning in 2015, AVL systems integrator Paragon 360 designed and installed all new AVL systems, custom scenic and staging elements, motorized rigging systems, and acoustical treatment. And the centrepiece of the project, which was completed in January 2017, is a RoomMatch loudspeaker system from Bose Professional. Paragon 360 chose the RoomMatch system because of its track record in attaining high speech intelligibility and touring-level music quality in acoustically challenging spaces. The sanctuary had a number of challenges, including an odd geometry that saw a traditional balcony design considerably extended with additional seating elevated along the sides of the room. “That meant there were going to be
UK - PRG XL Video recently supported production manager Iain Whitehead and Production North with lighting, video and rigging services for The X Factor Live tour 2017. Stopping off at 19 venues around the UK, the tour featured the stars of the 2016 series of the popular prime-time weekend television show. Lighting designer Peter Barnes returned for his sixth X Factor Live tour to design the set, lighting and video screen layout. Peter explained the creative process behind the show: “I worked closely with creative director, Beth Honan, on her staging requirements and overall artistic look of the show. The general design complimented what the audience would be used to from the TV show. “Although there was no particular brief given to me, with this particular show, there’s always been a video screen which opens upstage centre, and the rest just falls into place from
The Netherlands - Shelter nightclub in Amsterdam is home to a new, four-point Funktion-One Evo sound system from Think! AV. The venue has quickly established itself on the international clubbing map, thanks to an uncompromising approach to quality. Located beneath A’DAM Toren – a large tower behind Amsterdam's Central Station on the northern banks of the river IJ – Shelter is a 700-capacity, underground clubbing space. A’DAM is short for ‘Amsterdam Dance and Music’, which reflects the direction of the owners and businesses that now occupy the building. The tower was built by Shell in 1971 and was a base for the multinational oil and gas company up until 2009. When it moved out, music moved in. Shelter’s general manager, Merijn van den Heuvel, explains the idea behind venue: “To be a clubber’s club, with sound, quality and vibe as top priorities in eve
