UK - Tannoy has announced the appointment of Jamie O'Callaghan as head of global sales for its Lifestyle Division.

O'Callaghan comments, "Tannoy's renowned 90-Year heritage along with Music's extraordinary resources and capabilities has drawn me to this amazing opportunity. I am very honoured to be part of a fantastic team that will execute Tannoy's ambitious vision to deliver outstanding customer experience and products that represent that vision. We are assembling a team of very passionate sales people to build even stronger relationships with our global distribution partners."

Vice president, lifestyle, James Bradbury adds, "We are delighted to welcome Jamie to Tannoy. His industry experience, deep understanding of the global Hi-fi market and enthusiastic drive are exactly what we need. We have big ambitions, and are putting in place a team that will deliver."

(Jim

Germany - Creative Technology (CT) has had another strong year delivering some spectacular events across all of its world-wide operations. In the continuing drive to improve efficiency in an increasingly competitive marketplace will be substantially restructured.

The business will retain key customer facing resources in Stuttgart, Cologne and Berlin but will, in future, service and administer its business from one of its major hubs in Holland, UK, Spain or further afield in the Middle East, USA or Asia Pacific.

Sales and project management will be centred around the Stuttgart office and lead by Mike Dörfling who assumes the role of business development director.

Christ Elsten will assume the role of managing director for Holland and Germany alongside commercial director Albert Deltour.

Albert Deltour comments, "The refocus of knowledge, people and equipment in a s

USA - Focusrite Novation Inc., the wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of the UK-based manufacturer Focusrite Audio Engineering, has announces the appointment of industry veteran Craig Lewis to the position of director of sales for the Focusrite and Novation brands. Focusrite Red and RedNet will continue to be handled by Kurt Howell, national accounts manager.

The announcement was made by Focusrite Novation Inc. president Phil Wagner, underscoring the ongoing growth and expansion of the Focusrite and Novation brands and their sales channels in the US.

Phil Wagner stated, "Craig is well respected. He is an exceptional addition to our expanding team. Craig's industry accomplishments demonstrate his dedication and expertise in both M.I. and pro audio market segments, making him uniquely qualified for this new role. We welcome him aboard, and look forward to his contributions into 20

UK - Award-winning Muse tour director and founder of Cato Music, Glen Rowe, has been appointed managing director of Backstage Academy with immediate effect.

Backstage Academy is a centre of excellence for the future of the live industry, created solely for the next generation of touring and creative professionals. Located next door to Europe's largest production campus, Production Park, the Academy continues to provide real-life training and exciting employment opportunities for students.

Rowe's appointment brings his successful Cato Academy - the only 'Roadie School' in the world - under the educational umbrella of Backstage Academy. The two Academies will continue to provide the best-in-class short courses and degree courses respectively for students wishing to undertake careers in the live events and live music sectors.

Commenting on his appointment, Backstage Acade

UK - Lode Audio, the UK-based audio company that creates products dedicated to the custom installation market, has introduced the LA1 - a single-zone music server that combines Hi-Fi quality performance with the control and reliability demanded by the custom installation industry.

The next stage in the Lode Audio product road map, which has already seen the LA4 4-zone music server receive wide acclaim from installers and users alike, the LA1 is 1U tall and 9 ½ "wide (two units can fit side-by-side in a 19" rack) features high-end DACs capable of high-resolution audio playback, compatibility with the leading music streaming services including TIDAL and full integration into automation control platforms such as Creston, AMX, Control4 and RTI.

Built on Lode Audio's patented LodeNet, the LA1 can be used as a stand-alone unit in a single-source multiroom audio system/dedicated

USA - The new Christie Pandoras Box 6.0 media server and Widget Designer 6.0 are officially launching at LDI in Las Vegas this week. The Pandoras Box system combines the newest rendering technology with intuitive media and show control. Pandoras Box is used around the world for live experiences including multi-media events and projection mapping. The system can be set up as a standalone playback device, network playback client or in console mode for direct DMX Control.

Among its many new features, Multi User mode allows multiple Pandoras Box operators to split the workload of a project and benefit from the increased efficiency by working on different tasks like warping, content encoding, timeline programming or simply work simultaneously on the same sequence. Pandoras Box 6.0 also features many workflow improvements such as editable meshes and warps, UV map adjustments and liv

Areentina - Deligio-Producciones Técnicas created spectacular looks for Argentinian superstar Abel Pintos, thanks in part to the adroit use of Next NXT-1 moving LED panels from Chauvet Professional.

Lighting designer Pablo Deligio, who co-owns the production company with his father Nestor Deligio, arranged 20 of the NXT-1 panels in four rows on a center stage truss grid for Pintos' concert at Luna Park in the San Nicol

USA - Jimmy Buffett is about to wrap his I Don't Know Tour, an ironic name considering how iconic the singer and performances have become. Having toured every year since 1976, the self-proclaimed beach bum knows how to entertain his legion of fans, many of whom make the trek to see his shows many times over.

Bandit Lites is the long-time lighting vendor of Buffett, and helps transform every stage into a paradise for both the audience and the performer. Lighting designer Steve Hoover first toured with Buffett in the early 1990s and has been the tour's lighting designer and director for about the last five years.

"When I started, I first built upon the familiar look of the show, and now it has evolved into a collaborated effort between lighting and video, bouncing things back and forth so we match and compliment the looks," Hoover said.

Bandit provided Showline Nitro Str

USA - A key member of Los Angeles' leading lighting design collective, Seven Design Works, Tobias Rylander has been making extensive use of GLP's award-winning X4 Bar 20 LED battens to illuminate various touring lighting sets, generating giant colour fields and sweeps from the innovative fixtures.

Such has been the growth in Manchester indie band, The 1975's fan-base following the chart-topping album I Like It When You Sleep, that production has had to scale up from the originally booked theatre-sized venues to full-size arenas.

"Fortunately I started by designing an arena sized show, that could be scaled back," smiles the Swedish-born designer, "because we had a feeling it would go that way."

Introduced to the X4 Bars at local Los Angeles based rental company, Volt Lites he quickly recognized that these multi-functional lights would generate a wall of colour bu

USA - Robe moving lights - 48 x Pointes, eight DLX Spots and eight ColorStrobes - are central to the lighting rig at Jewel, the Hakkasan Group's newest night destination venue in Las Vegas, designed by the Audiotek team led by Frank Murray. Dublin & London, based Audiotek has worked on a number of other premium projects for Hakkasan Group, and for this one they designed, specified, coordinated, project-managed and commissioned the club's technical infrastructure which included lighting, video and audio.

"Every project offers new and interesting challenges. Jewel was tremendously exciting, offering a dramatic backdrop for some sensational lighting effects," stated Frank.

Audiotek's lighting designer Andy Taylor worked alongside their project directors Chris Kmeic, Mags Morton and Len Bolger who all collaborated closely with local integrators NTA (National Technology Associa

Denmark - Koldinghus is a castle built in the 13th century, located in the town of Kolding. For decades the castle has been illuminated by conventional discharge lamps, which is a costly affair in regards to both power and maintenance. Therefore, Business Kolding and the Municipality of Kolding decided to implement a new and more up-to-date lighting solution.

Apart from being expensive and high-maintenance, the old lighting solution did not contribute positively to the appearance of the old castle's architecture.

The overall aim for the new lighting project was that the castle's historic and architectonic value would become properly illuminated. Thus far, nobody had been able to present a lighting solution that would match all the requirements, and therefore in 2015 Business Kolding hired

UK - Allen & Heath is celebrating global success with its flagship dLive digital mixing system, which has been specified by many engineers on international riders over its first season, culminating in over 150 touring PA rental companies investing in the product worldwide.

"dLive has turned a lot of touring engineers' heads with its smart, customisable workflows and stunning FX and DEEP processing plug-ins. The 96kHz sampling rate, plus dLive's potential for expansion and integration make it a no-brainer," explains Leon Phillips, Allen & Heath's live sound & touring evangelist.

Artists including Fifth Harmony, Ceelo Green, Jamie Lawson, Travis, Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH), Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Morrissey and AIR, have all toured the globe with dLives this year.

"By the time we finish this run and the system returns to SSE, it will have completed its first

Norway - A Martin Audio MLA Mini Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array has been installed at the University of Oslo (UiO) flagship auditorium - replacing the previous PA system.

The integration was carried out by Atendi AS, Martin Audio's pan-Scandinavian distributors, and the installation itself is in the Aula, the University's famous ceremonial hall, known for its festive events, concerts and art. In fact, from 1947 until 1989 it hosted the Nobel Peace Prize, but when that auditorium gradually became too small, the ceremony was moved to the Oslo City Hall.

The Aula's connection with Nobel today revolves around the Nobel Lecture, which is frequently presented there, while many other civic dignitaries also give lectures. In addition, the Aula is used for a number of high profile events such as the Oslo Opera Festival, as well as classical concerts ranging from the Norwegian Rad

UK The Young Vic theatre played host to lighting designers and technicians from across the world this week, who had gathered for the presentation of the second International Fellowship by The Association of Lighting Designers (ALD) to South African lighting designer Mannie Manim.

The prestigious international fellowship was presented to Manim by ALD president, Richard Pilbrow. Honoured for his lengthy list of credits in lighting design, Manim, throughout an exceptional career, has also been a company manager, producer, technical director, founder, administrator and trustee of many theatre organisations.

During the ceremony, lighting designer and ALD member, Declan Randall, read tributes from the peers of the South African lighting designer.

A tribute from Ismail Mahomed, CEO of the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, stated, "It is virtually impossible to write the history o

USA - Console and automated lighting manufacturer High End Systems unveiled three new products at the 2016 LDI trade show.

The SolaTheatre is the first lighting instrument in the SolaRange family to feature completely fanless operation. Suitable for studio and theatrical applications that require virtually silent performance, SolaTheatre brings the power of High End's white light LED engine to television, film and theatre LDs worldwide. The company also introduced HEX and QUAD, two new fixtures that join SHAPESHIFTER and UNO in High End's effects lighting range.

The company was also showing the SolaWash FX 2000, the latest addition to the SolaRange family, joining the revolutionary SolaWash FX 1000 and SolaSpot 1000 launched earlier this year.

High End is also introducing SolaSpot Frame 2000 to compliment the 2000 Wash and Spot range, and showing their full line of Hog

USA - Airstar announced at LDI the enhancement of its successful Crystal range with the launch of two new innovative products - Sunshade and Crystal White 50k lum.

Following a successful pilot test at the Solidays and Musilac music festivals in France this summer, Airstar introduced Sunshade to the Crystal range; a large lighting umbrella which transforms the Crystal lighting balloon technology into a new envelope shape. Measuring 2.2 or 2.6m in diameter, it features the same RGB LED lights that can be found on the Crystal balloons, and is DMX controllable.

At Solidays, Sunshades were deployed as decorative party tables, tailored to the needs of the festival. Rigged on a 2.75m high structure, they were weighted by a 200kg base, hidden by a cover. Five were situated backstage for the artists, as well as the VIP terrace and the VIP bar, and they complemented the placement of

USA - Elation Professional has launched a next-tier product line of IP-rated moving lights built specifically to empower designer creativity - Proteus.

Featuring a sophisticated yet pragmatic design, Elation has put years of focus into developing this high-performance intelligent lighting solution to help designers create the effects and power they need, regardless of weather, tech or brightness requirements.

Launching at LDI 2016 in Las Vegas, Proteus are compact, robust and budget-friendly next-level intelligent lighting solutions designed to unleash creative vision and excel under any conditions. Now designers can benefit from Elation's trusted and award-winning indoor expertise outside, with superior illumination allowing their vision to be unbound by the elements.

(Jim Evans)

The Netherlands - Luc Peumans from Painting with Light was asked to create a lighting scheme for the recent new musical Sky which ran at the Theater Amsterdam featuring spectacular 3D video scenery.

The show was produced by Imagine Nation (Robin de Levita & Kees Abrahams) and featured music by John Ewbank and Marco Borsato.

Luc, himself experienced at working in 3D and 'surround visual' environments, was also asked to collaborate on this production because of his flair for lighting this hybrid genre of performance, which combines the emotion and connection of musical theatre with the latest presentation technologies.

Luc started discussions with the producers a year in advance of the show opening in March for its three-month run, which has just finished. "It was challenging in every way. When working with intense 3D projections specific qualities and techniques

Colombia - Light magician and creative director, Tupac Martir, has announced his latest creative project - Lux Festival; a light and video showcase where the dynamic canvas for the adventurous event is the colonial architecture and cobbled streets and squares of the historic coastal town of Cartagena, Colombia.

Set to run from 4-8 January 2017, Lux Festival will feature designs from some of the most imaginative international theatre, concert touring and event lighting and video artists the world has to offer. There has been huge support from the local community and Cartagena's Mayor Manuel Vicente Duque has extended his warm welcome to all the designers and expressed his excitement at raising the profile of the town and introducing the creative possibilities of lighting and video to the local community.

Curated by Martir, the festival's mission is to deliver a diverse and

USA - On the show floor at LDI, Rosco Laboratories presented a cheque from the sales of Roscolux #359 Medium Violet to Behind the Scenes, the charity that assists entertainment technology professionals in need due to serious illness or injury.

"Rosco is proud to play a part in the important work that Behind the Scenes does within the entertainment technology industry," said Mark Engel, Rosco CEO. "The grants that Behind the Scenes provide can be profoundly helpful to entertainment professionals and their families, and it is our privilege to contribute to the cause. Our contribution this year is $4,500, bringing our total contribution to $21,000. These funds represent the proceeds from Roscolux 359 Medium Violet. We're grateful to Behind the Scenes for the opportunity to improve the lives of our industry colleagues."

Rick Rudolph, chair of the Behind the Scenes Foundation,

Mexico - In order to adapt to a growing and changing Mexican market for entertainment technology, the ADJ Group has announced the opening of a new distribution centre facility near Mexico City that will serve all ADJ Group brands: ADJ, Elation Professional, Acclaim Lighting, Global Truss America/Duratruss and American Audio.

"Owing to a high demand for our brands in Mexico, we are very excited to announce that we have formed ADJ Products Group Mexico," stated Toby Velazquez, president of the ADJ Group. "We have strong brand names in Mexico and the new facility will allow us to establish an even stronger connection between sales, service and our customers. This will help get our products in the hands of our customers quicker and offer our dealers a factory-direct sales and service experience."

The ADJ Products Group Mexico facility includes extensive warehousing and shippin

USA - Robe enjoyed an action-packed LDI expo in Las Vegas, this year all the more memorable for collecting a 2016 Parnelli award in the indispensable Lighting Technology category for the successful BMFL WashBeam luminaire.

Robe highlighted two new products for the first time at a U.S. exhibition - the Spiider LED wash beam - "the next big thing" from the Czech manufacturer, and Halo, an ingenious new LED 'pixel technology' device. Also new was the Spikie, a small, super-fast LED wash beam.

The full BMFL range of high powered signature moving lights, popular in the US, were also prominent on the stand, together with the elegant DL series of potent LED luminaires designed specifically for the demanding worlds of theatre and performance. The arty and scenic PATT range of retro-styled tungsten lights additionally made an impact.

Much anticipated, 42 x Spiiders and 31 x Spi

South Africa - The Hilton Arts Festival 2016 was once again a resounding success, Sue Clarence's diverse programme had festival goers spoilt for choice. The pick of South African Theatre was represented across all genres from John Kani directing his son in Sizwe Bansi is Dead to the one man masterpiece Dead Yellow Sands featuring the talented Graham Weir.

For those fortunate to see it the South Korean production Dallae's Story was the pick of the festival, a delicate and tender story told through the medium of mime and puppetry. Grahamstown Ovation award winners Graveyard and crowd favourite The Snow Goose were also well received.

Black Coffee, the technical suppliers for the festival once again outdid themselves. Brandon Bunyan (Mr. Black Coffee), for the second year running exposed a selection of COPA (Centre Of Performing Arts) students to th

Australia - American dance promoter Insomniac Events, the company behind the Electric Daisy Carnival, teamed up with locals Symbiotic to bring its trance brand Dreamstate to Melbourne's Hisense Arena on 1 October for a night of deep grooves and euphoric melodies, served up by Paul van Dyk, John O'Callaghan, Rank 1, Sneijder, Genix B2B Sunny Lax, and Mark Sixma.

In keeping with Insomniac's dedication to providing the best possible experience to its audiences, Matt Chromatic, creative and technical director of set and lighting design firm Chromatic, was bought on board to deliver a unique custom look for the show, wowing the crowd and enhancing the beats. At the heart of Matt's design were High End Systems Shapeshifters, and the flagship Hog 4 lighting console.

Eight Shapeshifter C1s, which feature 126 RGB LEDs putting out 24,000 lumens arrayed across seven independently con

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