Europe - Two giants of the lighting world have come together to help provide a dazzling show for one of the world's leading artistes.

The introduction of the g X-5 LED strobes from Peter Johansen's SGM provided all the inspiration necessary for multi-award winning production designer, LeRoy Bennett, to specify almost 450 pieces for Beyoncé's The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.

When the set climaxes with her popular song Halo, the accompanying drum roll is the cue for lighting director Whitney Hoversten to trigger every strobe in the house, completing a blinding blitzkrieg. "We throw everything plus the kitchen sink at it," he says.

Beyoncé herself had expressed a preference for a lightshow-dominated stage set this time around (rather than the current video-led paradigm) and Bennett immediately set to work creating a stunning light ladder 'torm', i

UK - Entertainment lighting specialist White Light was recently chosen to supply lighting for the highly anticipated The Jacksons: Unity Tour, which packed venues across the UK in March of this year. As Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon took to the stage each night for a non-stop, pop-fuelled frenzy, their high energy performances and glitzy costumes were matched with a range of powerful lighting visuals designed by lighting director Theryn Knight.

For the UK leg of the tour, Knight and production manager Scotty Ross worked with Lester Cobrin, White Light's head of concert touring, to choose the layout of the lighting rig. Having already toured the show in America, Knight decided to go in a new direction with the lighting for the UK tour. "In the US, we used mostly conventional sources - incandescent pars and similar - which didn't give me a lot of flexibility and required

Europe - LumenRadio has announced that Svetlost Teatar has been appointed CRMX distributor in Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Svetlost Teatar is focused on a full service concept, including design, manufacture, assembly, install and service. During the past years, the company has successfully completed over 100 projects, including 19,000 seat arenas and world famous opera houses.

"We chose LumenRadio because it is a trusted name in the entertainment industry. The quality of the CRMX products and the reliable performance make LumenRadio the perfect fit in our product portfolio of world-leading brands", says Olivera Mitrovic, general manager at Svetlost Teatar

Jessica Björk, sales & marketing manager adds, "In signing with Svetlost Teatar, I believe that we have found the best possible partner in this region. We are very glad to have Svetlost Teatar r

Argentina - Lighting and set designer Eli Sirlin utilised over 120 Robe moving lights in his lighting scheme for the 2013 Festival Nacional de la Vendimia (National Grape Harvest Festival), a high profile world-renowned celebration of wine and the wine-making industry held in Mendoza, Argentina.

The 2013 event, staged at the Frank Romero Day Greek Theatre, celebrated the local traditions with dance, music and wine, plus a special drama performance Noche de Teatro Mágico de Piedra y Vino to honour the venue's 50th anniversary.

Up to 30,000 people a night flocked to catch the action over the two week Festival. A Vendimia Queen was chosen and various wine tastings took place as well as live performances from an impressive line-up of local and international folk and rock bands. The event was closed by Spanish singer-songwriter and musician Alejandro Sanz who gave a show-st

Australia - Tony Jex, managing director of Oz Management Entertainment is thrilled with his new Jands Stage CL console, the desk designed specifically for LED fixtures but just as suitable for conventional lights.

"With some of the small DMX consoles you almost need a calculator to work out which fader is going to control which element of the DMX functions on your fixtures," commented Jex. "With the Stage CL, Jands has recognised that and seen a gap in the market. I did look at some software options as well but I prefer to 'play' the console like a musical instrument. A lot of the work I do is with bands that I may be working with for the first time and the Stage CL allows me to easily interact with them."

One feature that Jex particularly favours is the 'one channel strip per fixture' which helps him to change colours easily as well as fade in and out. He

Singapore - The technologically advanced new Star Performing Arts Centre has invested in Clay Paky's Alpha Spot HPE 700 and Alpha Wash 700 fixtures to provide a bright solution for its 770-seater Star Gallery multi-purpose hall.

The venue's technical director Daniel Loh specified 16 of each Alpha Spot HPE 700 and Alpha Wash 700s as an optional upgrade to the standard lighting package in the theatre, choosing them due to their compact, lightweight build and quiet operation.

"In addition to the Alpha Wash 700s and Alpha Spot HPE 700s' relatively small dimensions, we needed fixtures that offered good colour rendition and really packed a punch in terms of light output," says Loh. "The 32 Clay Paky fixtures will serve as floating stock that can be used in various venues in our facility, and the two Alpha ranges facilitate this due to their small scale size but powerf

UK - Avolites Media's industry-beating server 'Ai' has been powering the fast-paced visuals for Sky TV's popular spring series of Got to Dance. A total of four Ai Server systems, running on Mac Towers, two main and two backup, were supplied to the production by video rental house Creative Technology.

Respected TV lighting and visual media programmer Russ Grubiak - who has worked on a number of high rating shows including the X Factor, Big Brother, and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - chose to use the powerful Avolites Media Server Ai to manipulate the end visual output for Series 4 of the show, which was created to discover the best dance act in the UK.

"The Ai's built-in visualiser has been a god send, particularly in television when you are operating from a gallery or position where you can't always see the stage with your own eyes," sa

UK - Verbatim has announced the commercial release of Vivid Vision, a directional LED lamp using VxRGB technology developed by Verbatim's parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation.

Vivid Vision ensures that colours and fine details of objects are rendered accurately through a combination of red, green and blue phosphors applied to a violet, rather than blue, LED die. This type of LED lighting is particularly effective in spaces where small differences in colour hues, tints and textures can have a significant impact, says the company.

Now available within Europe, Vivid Vision is an MR16 VxRGB LED lamp designed to meet specific requirements in professional applications such as prestigious hospitality venues, sophisticated retail outlets and museums where high contrast lighting enhances the unique features of artworks.

"Based on the technology and knowledge of our pa

UK - Philips Entertainment's four premier brands - Showline, Vari-Lite, Selecon and Strand Lighting - are powering up to exhibit their latest LED luminaires and lighting control products for theatre application at this year's ABTT (Orange Hall, Old Truman Brewery, Stand 123).

Following its UK debut at PLASA Focus in Leeds, Philips Showline will be promoting its SL NITRO 510 LED-based strobe, delivering superbright, intense bursts of light and dynamic effects using over 1300 high-powered LEDs. Six unique zones of control allow ultimate flexibility while unique built in chases aid in creativity and simplicity. With over 68,000 lumens of output, the SL NITRO 510 rivals conventional strobes and retains dynamic looks whether washing a stage or pointing directly at an audience.

Sister company Philips Vari-Lite will be demo'ing the recently released Indy software for the VLX Wash lum

Mexico - Luminica Gdl of Guadalajara was one of the first rental companies in Mexico and Latin America to invest in Martin's MAC Viper Profile and had the fixtures out on one of the Carnival season's more festive events in February, Carnaval Mazatlan.

Lighting designer Luis Ernesto Armenta Jiménez has used Martin products since he started in the industry as a programmer and incorporated the new 1000 W Martin fixtures into his lighting design for the festival.

"I chose to use the MAC Viper Profile because I felt it would help me achieve the goal of highlighting a show that was full of cultural juxtaposition as it mixed contemporary dance with orchestral music and pop music, all in the same festival," he said.

Luis lined ground supports with 10 MAC Viper Profiles with colour wash coming from 26 MAC 2000 Washes and 16 MAC 101 wash lights. Twelve Atomic 3000 str

Czech Republic - Martin Professional is a Gold Sponsor of the prestigious Showlight conference 18-21 May in the Czech Republic and looks forward to four stimulating days in ?eský Krumlov among the world's most talented lighting professionals.

"Showlight is an exceptional and unique event in our industry and we are delighted to again have the opportunity to participate as a sponsor," states Martin UK sales director Mike Walker, who will be attending the event along with Martin's newly hired business area manager for its EMEA sales organisation, Matt Hallard."Showlight really attracts the cream of the lighting world and from a networking perspective is unequalled. We very much look forward to it."

Held every four years, Showlight exists specifically to give speakers, designers and attendees time to meet and discuss. For example, stands close during presentat

Sweden - PLASA's first ever networking event in Scandinavia, PLASA Focus: Backstage Malmö, was a huge success, with over 240 delegates attending from across Scandinavia and northern Europe.

Devised in conjunction with technical director Ola Melzig and the production team behind this year's Eurovision, this unique event aimed to combine unprecedented backstage access with seminars, Q&A sessions with key members of the production team and a technology showcase to highlight the cutting-edge sound, lighting, projection, video and control systems in use on a show which will have a television audience in excess of 100m people.

After the event, Melzig said, "What a success! All partners and visitors I've talked with are super happy about the quality of this show, and its visitors. It was really great to share the experience and show what is going on backstage to so many peo

UK - Robe is sponsoring a student bursary run by London, UK based lighting designer Simon Brockwell of design practice SBLD, that will enable him to take a lighting design assistant to work alongside him for the upcoming 2013 Vivid Sydney Festival of Light Music & Ideas in Australia.

Brockwell is presenting his interactive Nocturnal Pianola lighting installation and concept.

Robe's relationship with Brockwell goes back to when he was a lighting design / programming student at Rose Bruford College in Kent. When Nocturnal Pianola was selected as one of the works to be exhibited at the festival, he approached Robe to see if they were interested in getting involved in Vivid.

"Robe has never been about pushing the product - their emphasis is definitely on relationships," comments Brockwell. "As a lighting graduate, I know the importance of students to

Italy - The Spiaggia degli Olivi lighthouse, a historic monument on Lake Garda and the symbol of the town of Riva, was turned off about 40 years ago.

The diving board tower, on top of which the historic lake lighthouse was installed, is found at the end of the pier. Thanks to restoration work in the area, commissioned by Lido di Riva, the lighthouse started sweeping the Trento waters of the lake once again with its beam in October 2012. The surprise is that, instead of the complicated original 24 volt mechanism, there is a new Clay Paky Sharpy inside the lantern room, which is not only able to reproduce the brightness of the old lighthouse, but also its movement.

Giacomo Galassi of Iiriti Noleggi explained that "owing to the originality of the installation, Clay Paky was extremely helpful and let us try the light out for over a month so that we could test it in actual use

UK - LEE Filters has announced the appointment of Richard McKitty as their new business development manager for camera and lighting filters. McKitty comes to LEE with six years of experience in the lighting industry and four years in the photographic industry working with dealers and professionals in each market. He will be covering all areas outside the US and South America with a focus on Europe and beyond.

"I am thrilled to be joining LEE Filters. It is a real honour to be promoting the famous LEE brand within two thriving industries around the world. I cannot wait to help expand the business portfolio and meet new and existing LEE customers," says McKitty.

(Jim Evans)

World - Fleetwood Mac are back on the road and a grandMA2 console has joined the iconic band on the Fleetwood Mac Live 2013 World Tour. The new tour, which began in Columbus will wrap in Australia in December, marks the first for the band since 2009's sold-out Unleashedtour. This year is also the 35th anniversary of their Rumours album, one of the most successful in recording history.

Lighting designer Paul "Arlo" Guthrie of Minneapolis-based Toss Film + Design is Fleetwood Mac's long-time lighting designer. "I have to cater to four different personalities (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks) and bring them together as one team," he explains. "For this show we have four big soft box panels and 32 Clay Paky Sharpy Washes on curved lighting pipes, some of them on the floor, some on the rigs and some in pods that c

UK - A.C. Special Projects Ltd. (ACSP) will be showing a range of projects from their impressive architectural installation portfolio, as well as architectural lighting products at this year's ARC Show (stand P42).

ACSP will be on hand throughout the show to discuss how they can provide bespoke lighting, audio and AV installations to the architectural and retail sectors.

Acting as single supplier, the company has access to over 200 leading entertainment technology brands including Jands Vista, Yamaha, Green Hippo and Columbus McKinnon to name a few. On show at ARC will be a range of the latest innovative architectural LED lighting products from Chroma-Q, Spotlight and Griven.

From Chroma-Q, the new Inspire LED House Light is a powerful multi-purpose creative lighting tool that provides a choice of beautiful whites, soft pastels and bold saturates - all from one fixture. The

Russia - Moscow's Satirikon Theatre opened its 2012-2013 season with a production of Romeo and Juliet directed by Konstantin Raikin. Raikin, the theatre's artistic director, has not staged Shakespeare's timeless love story at the Satirikon since the mid-1990s, and the new production has been hailed by critics and theatregoers alike for its innovative, high-tech, and ultramodern approach. The impressive visual effects created by ETC Russia using Christie projection equipment meld seamlessly and naturally with the on-stage action.

As Ruslan Semenov, general director of ETC Russia, explains, "It took our team a month and a half to prepare the video content for the show. The work was done on stage under the direct supervision of Konstantin Raikin. Daily rehearsals with the theatre company enabled us to achieve unique synchronisation between the video elements and the act

China - Lighthouse Technologies has announced the promotion of Randy Green to the position of chief technology officer.

Green has more than 25 years experience in strategic planning, sales, design and implementation of technical systems for the entertainment, television, sports, digital out of home and live event markets. He also has over 15 years of experience providing technical solutions for sports stadiums, arenas, and exhibition centres of which large screen video display, video control systems and electronic signage are an integral part.

Having joined Lighthouse in 2007, Green has played a key role in the company's success, using his extensive expertise to build positive relationships both internally and externally. This new position reflects both his technical and managerial talents.

"Randy is an innovative and energetic technical management professional," s

The Netherlands - Royal Philips reports that the 300th licensee signed up to its LED luminaire and retrofit bulb licensing programme, which has seen its number of licensees grow by 50% since May 2012. As a result, 300 companies have access to Philips' comprehensive portfolio of patented LED system technologies and solutions.

Arian Duijvestijn, senior vice president of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards said, "We are thrilled that the LED programme has grown by 50% in the last year. We are delighted that more and more businesses, from start-ups to larger companies sign up to the LED luminaire and retrofit bulb licensing program and recognize that working with us helps to speed up product development, lower costs and advance the industry. We warmly welcome our 300th licensee and are confident the program will continue to attract a wide variety of companies in the comin

Switzerland - Moving lights from Robe's latest Robin MMX and DL Series ranges were utilised by lighting designer Michael Grundner for the world premiere of Moses - The Ten Commandments, a new musical extravaganza by Michael Kunze and Dieter Falk being staged at the Theatre St. Gallen in Switzerland.

The creative brief for Grundner's lighting design was to mimic the style and genre of the show - 'contemporary rock and pop with gospel elements' - for which the theatre decided to purchase the new system of Robe moving lights.

The package comprised eight MMX Spots, two DLS Profile, two DLX Spots and 16 DLF Wash fixtures, all of which were specified by the theatre's head of lighting, Andreas Enzler and his deputy Andreas Volk ... on the recommendation of Grundner among others, and were delivered via Robe's Swiss distributor, Audio Tech.

They decided on Robe because they so

Australia - Concert & Corporate Productions in Western Australia supplies lighting equipment and crew to some of the most prestigious corporate clients as well as national and internationally recognised touring acts. As CCP continues to grow stronger, larger, and to increase their inventory, their equipment choices tend to be driven my market demands.

"As our industry is spec driven we have to go by what people are wanting and most of the specs we've seen in the past eighteen months have requested Vari*Lite VL3000's or higher," commented Sean McKernan, general manager at CCP. "To purchase some was just a natural progression for our path of where we wanted to go."

In February Concert & Corporate Productions took delivery of 24 VL3000 Spots and eight VL2500 Washes which have seen action on a wide variety of events from Celtic Thunder, Neil Finn & Paul Kelly t

USA - Bandit Lites had the privilege of being the first to light a concert at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium, where ACM award winner Jason Aldean played to more than 60,000 people. The 90-minute set, which was filmed for a DVD release, included a surprise visit from rapper Ludacris and a virtual appearance from Kelly Clarkson.

Award-winning lighting designer, Aaron Swetland faced the singular challenge of having to adapt his already massive rig for television with an additional 88 Sharpys, 20 Syncrolite fixtures, 34 3500 washes, 20 MAC Auras and 24 Bandit 5x5s. Giant artwork scrims were added above stage right and left with 30ft trusses above them, while a 60ft lighting truss was placed centre downstage from the usual downstage truss for television lighting.

For his inaugural stadium show, Swetland focused on filling the space while being mindful of the challenges

USA - More than 600 business and community leaders gathered on 3 May 2013 to celebrate the finest businesses and individuals in East Tennessee, where Bandit Lites lit the ninth annual Pinnacle Business Awards Gala. The black tie event has quickly become one of the premier social events, complete with reception, silent auction, and a martini bar carved out of a block of ice.

Lighting designer Will Twork created an elegant atmosphere utilizing MAC 2k Profiles, MAC 500 and MAC 600. Framed in the stage set, six 4x30' screen material panels were lit by GRN LED pars.

"It's not a typical stage set-up," said Bandit's general manager, JR Sander. "From the moment people enter the room, we want them to immediately feel they are in a space befitting their status as a member of Knoxville Chamber of Commerce. It's a special night for everyone, and Bandit is proud to both be a

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