Sweden - Rave reviews greeted the Scandinavian premiere of the musical Rebecca at Malmö Opera in spring 2014. Based on the book by Daphne Du Maurier and Hitchcock's famous thriller, the stage version features a backdrop of sweeping landscapes, crackling fire, wild seas, shattering vases and spinning moons - all created with a four-projector setup under the command of Dataton Watchout multi-display software.

Rebecca: The Musical by Levay and Kunze is heavily influenced by the film version of the original book, with swift cuts to new scenes and sets. To maintain that feel and pace, lighting and set designer Bengt Gomér worked with Malmö Opera's AV coordinator, Joakim Täck, and production company Visual Relief to create a dynamic digital set using Dataton Watchout. The 6m by 17m stage is filled with stills, effects and video footage for the entire performanc

USA - Having worked with the Arnold Sports Festival as its exclusive provider of lighting and staging systems for over 20 years, Live! Technologies, LLC recently took the show to a new level with an array of lighting elements from Martin Professional.

The Live! Technologies team, including Michael Farrell, business development and marketing executive, and Michael Hesmond, lighting programmer, deployed a rig of over 100 Martin lights including 12 Viper Performances, 12 Viper Profiles, six MAC III Performances, 36 MAC Auras, 22 MAC 101s, 12 RUSH MH3 Beams, four Atomic 3000 DMX strobes, 60 EC-10 video panels and one P3-200 Video Processor/Scaler.

The Arnold Sports Festival 2014 took place in Columbus, Ohio in early March, and featured over 800 exhibitors showcasing the latest sports equipment, apparel and nutritional products. The main stage was the centre for non-stop entertainm

USA - LED tape may not get the attention that high beam moving heads or flashy LED backdrops enjoy, but it certainly has its place on live sets as a visually important - and highly cost effective - decorative element. Take Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jon Secada's show at the Wynn Resort's Encore Theatre in Las Vegas as an example where the Cuban-born singer performed with full backup on a stage composed of seven different levels and custom staircases.

Production/lighting designer Demfis Fyssicopulos used hefty amounts of Elation Flex LED Tape to outline the multi-tiered stage and accentuate the flowing form of the set, lining every curve of the stage and staircase in strips of color that matched the shades coming from the rig and LED backdrop. Besides highlighting the set in dynamic color, the LED border added both height and depth perspective to the stage.

Elation

UK - The PLASA Focus: Leeds show (29-30 April, Leeds, UK) will see the UK and IE launch of the brand new and exclusive range of Infinity moving heads. There are seven products in the range - five are LED units and two are lamped units.

All the fixtures have a built in Gravity sensor, making it easy to use the menu in any position, all units have a built in battery allowing for setting up of your fixture without mains power, all units are fixed with Neutrik powercon connectors and also three pole and five-pole XLRs and all units are equipped with quick lock brackets, which can be mounted in any position.

There are three new LED RGBW wash fixtures: the iW-715 (7 x 15W RGBW 4-in-1 LEDs), which has manual zoom from 7° to 50°; the iW-720 (7 x 20W RGBW 4-in 1 LEDs), with electronic zoom from 7° to 50°, with four section control on the LEDs; and finally the iW-915 (19

UK - Congratulations to the winners of the Lighting, Sound and Set Design categories at this year's Olivier Awards, which were presented at The Royal Opera House last night. The White Light Award for Best Lighting was won jointly by two lighting design teams - Paul Pyant and Jon Driscoll for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Tim Lutkin and Finn Ross for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre.

The Best Sound Design Award also saw two winners - Carolyn Downing for Chimerica and Gareth Owen (on his third Olivier nomination) for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

For the XL Video Award for Best Set Design, Es Devlin collected her second Olivier Award, for Chimerica.

Congratulations also to lighting designer Michael Hulls who was awarded for Outstanding Achievement in Da

Voices Off - Kylie Minogue has quit The Voice after one series. The singer joined the BBC talent show last year, replacing Jessie J, and was credited with boosting viewing figures during the first few episodes. However, she said touring commitments meant she would be unable to return for a second series. "Due to timing of my tour I won't be back next season for The Voice UK," she wrote on Twitter. "Thanks to all who supported!"

Common People - The Pulp hit Common People has been voted the top Britpop anthem by listeners of BBC Radio 6 Music, beating Oasis, Blur and Suede to take the title. DJ Steve Lamacq revealed the top 30 as part of a week-long celebration to mark the 20th birthday of Britpop. More than 30,000 people voted, with The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony second and Oasis tracks Don't Look Back in Anger and Wonde

UK - It's that time of the year again - the 7th Knight of Illumination (KOI) Awards has launched and already the entries are flying in. 2014 will see yet another celebration of talented international lighting and digital content designers that have worked in the UK in the sectors of TV, Theatre and Concert Touring and Events.

Not only that, the guest list is open to all who might wish to attend, ensuring that KOI continues to establish itself as a pan industry event. Durham Marenghi, an award-winning lighting designer in his own right and coordinator for the Knight of Illumination Awards, explains: "In just seven years KOI has established itself as a much coveted lighting and video industry award, respected for truly celebrating the art and creativity of lighting, video and show design. In fact so successful has the event been that it was recently referred to in the Guardia

UK - Chauvet Professional is supporting PLASA Focus, Leeds (29 - 30 April, 2014, The Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds), for the third year with platinum sponsorship. The brand is exhibiting on stand N-B12 and will be showcasing the UK debut of the Chauvet Professional Rogue series, as well the latest additions to the Chauvet Professional Nexus series of LED video panels.

The Rogue series features two power output levels of moving head spot fixtures and moving beam luminaires. The four models will take centre stage in Leeds demonstrating their packed feature-set. "Labelled as 'Weapons of Mass Creation' in the Rogue Army, the luminaires are bright and armed to defend the honour of tight budgetary requirements," the company says..

"One of the things that makes Rogue unique is that it offers such outstanding performance and so many features for its price," said Mi

UK - One of the East Midlands largest suppliers of lighting, sound and multi-media for live events, stage shows and corporate functions has announced an important new senior level appointment and the opening of a London office.

LUX Technical Ltd, based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, has recruited Jamie Mangan from the Cameron Mackintosh organisation in London to be its Live Production Director. Jamie is responsible for helping grow and support the LUX Technical client base in London, particularly theatres, trade shows and large companies holding award ceremonies and new product launches.

Jamie has eight years' experience in the production and project management of live shows, most recently for Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who is most famous for producing hit West End Musicals such as Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. Prior to that, Jamie was in involved with the National Y

Russia - The Tobolsk Yershov Theatre is thought to be the oldest theatre in Siberia, with performances dating back to the 16th Century. Today, the theatre is one of Russia's most technologically advanced venues, having just undergone a massive reconstruction project that doubled the building's size, added a second stage and upgraded its stage equipment. As part of the theatre's renovation, ETC dealer Imlight installed a lighting system with ETC fixtures, entertainment controls and architectural controls.

The theatre's large hall was expanded and made more flexible thanks to stage machinery that can transform the space into different configurations to fit each event, from big name theatrical performances to puppet shows. Imlight installed nearly 400 theatrical fixtures - including ETC Source Four spotlights, Source Four PARs, Source Four PARNels, Source Four Fresnels and Source F

The Netherlands - ELC Lighting has announced its move into new headquarters in the Netherlands. The new, improved offices, based in Gemert near Eindhoven, have been designed and planned by the company's own R&D engineers and promise to be a space created with the comfort of the worker in mind.

This is the first time that ELC Lighting has operated out of its own building, having spent the last 15 years in rented commercial premises. Silvio Cibien, ELC's sales manager, said, "Moving into our own walls is a very exciting step for us. We're not relocating to an existing building which has been adapted to suit our needs, but have designed our new building from the ground up. Everything is tailored to perfectly suit the needs of the company and the workers within it - yes, work is important but we also wanted it to be a place where every member of the team feels able to think, li

Israel - Robe's Israeli distributor Danor is based in Hod Hasheron just outside Tel Aviv and has built its reputation on being switched on to the market, offering the most innovative technologies and excellent service.

They first started distributing Robe in 2006 and have now established it as arguably the most popular moving light in Israel, a country that stages a huge and diverse amount of performance related shows and events ... considering its expedient geographical size

Danor was founded in 1969 by Dan Redler. Present CEO, David Hadar, joined two years later. In the beginning it was a lighting production company involved in supplying equipment to a variety of theatre dance and rock 'n' roll shows plus studio installations.

Around the mid 1990s, the company structure was streamlines and divided into Rental and Sales divisions to fine tune their focus on the professional

USA - GLP US Inc. has announced the appointment of Greville Kellett to the position of West Coast sales manager within the company.

Originally from the UK, Greville moved to the US a number of years ago, settling in California. He comes to GLP having had positions with soft goods manufacturer Dazian, California based Big Hammer Productions and UK based, White Light, with whom he worked for several years before moving to the US.

Greville's new position will see him being responsible for all of GLP US activities on the West Coast of the USA, covering some of the country's major entertainment hubs, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Speaking on his appointment, Greville commented, "I have seen GLP becoming a stronger and stronger presence in the market, since I have been in the US, and I am very much looking forward to continuing that trend."

GLP US president, Mar

South Africa - The Europe-based Knight of Illumination Awards, which celebrates outstanding achievements in lighting design, is expanding internationally with the launch of 'KOI South Africa' in 2015.

Knight of Illumination Awards organisers Pio Nahum and Davide Barbetta from Clay Paky, Jennie and Durham Marenghi, and The Fifth Estate's Sarah Rushton-Read announced that work is already in progress for next year's debut South Africa KOI Awards, which will run alongside the trade event Mediatech in Johannesburg.

Mediatech is scheduled for 15-17 July 2015 and the southern hemisphere event will run in addition to the existing London awards.

"Clay Paky is proud to have been at the forefront of creating the hugely successful Knight of Illumination Awards, which is now in its seventh year and ever growing," says Pio Nahum. "We feel the time is now right to launch a s

UK - Elation Professional invites lighting professionals to PLASA Focus Leeds and Stand N-D32 for the opportunity to talk in depth with qualified Elation personnel and get an up-close look at Elation's line of versatile lighting solutions. Join the Elation team at the Royal Armouries at Clarence Dock in Leeds where the Elation staff will be happy to demo the latest products.

The EZ4 is a high-quality, 4mm pixel pitch LED video panel ideal when outstanding high-definition image quality is required. Colours display vivid, consistent and uniform, and a high density of blackface pixels ensures a clear and sharp picture. A brightness level of 1,200 Nits means the EZ4 performs well even in high ambient lighting conditions.

Platinum Wash 16R Pro: Featuring the new Platinum MSD 16R lamp from Philips (330W, 16,000 lumens), this versatile moving head functions as both a beam and wash lu

UK - White Light is increasingly being discovered by lighting designers working in the live music and concert touring fields - all attracted by the company's quality service, diverse range of lighting equipment, and friendly, helpful approach to getting the show on.

Amongst those opting to use White Light recently: lighting designer Martin Nicholas, who chose White Light to supply his rig for the UK tour of Wet Wet Wet together with special guests Blue. The bands played a 12-date tour across the UK and Ireland at the end of the year, starting in Dublin and ending at Glasgow's brand new SSE Hydro Arena.

Nicholas' rig included a wide selection of fixture types: Vari-Lite VL2500 Spots and VL2500 Washes, Coemar Infinity ACL-M beamlights, plus Martin Viper spotlights, which have proven to be an enormously popular addition to the White Light fleet over the last year, in demand by li

USA - Bold, animated washes of colour are being used to add visual excitement to an ever-growing array of events and venues -- from corporate meetings and mid-size productions, to neighbourhood taverns and restaurants. Now Chauvet Professional is answering the demand for a mid-range multi-purpose high-power colour-mixing luminaire that's as fast, bright and electrifying as it is versatile and value-driven.

The company has introduced the Q-Wash 419Z LED, a high-output RGBW moving head wash fixture that provides the power and design tools to adapt to a wide range of projects - including a flexible 7°-25° zoom and zonal LED control -- yet also fits comfortably into the budgets of lighting pros and their clients.

Designed for the production, touring, theatre, nightclub, installation, corporate and rental markets, the Q-Wash 419Z LED will create attention-grabbing high-defi

UK - Avolites and Avolites Media have announced that teams from both brands will be demoing products being shown in the UK for the first time at PLASA Focus, Leeds, 29-30 April.

Avolites - on stand R-B10 - will be exhibiting the Sapphire Touch and new Wing, offering an additional 30 Motorised Faders and third hi res touch screen. The entire Titan range, two Titan Network Processor systems and the Tiger Touch II with Wireless Remote will also be available for demo and hands-on experience.

Avolites' Titan Mobile Fader Wing - which enables expansion of every Avolites Titan console, giving direct access to extra handy features - makes its UK debut.

Avolites Media - on stand R-A08 - will be showcasing Ai's video mapping capabilities, demoing interactive video controls using RFID, and discussing a number of high profile projects such as the recent Peter Pan theatre production, as

Italy - Elisa's L'anima vola (my soul flies) tour is a three-hour-plus marathon, during which the Italian singer-songwriter entertains her audience with the naturalness she has got us used to. It is a sort of long journey that covers all stages of her career, from her début in English and her victory at the Sanremo Music Festival, right up to her total conversion to the Italian language, which features throughout her latest CD.

Elisa is one of the few artists who love to supervise the whole design and creative process involved in artistic/musical projects. She came up with the original tour concept and then handed it over to a well-established creative team, consisting of lighting and show designer Mamo Pozzoli, set designer Igor Ronchese, and artistic director Mauro Simionato, with Edit Art in charge of the visual art.

The stage looks deceptively simple and uncluttered

Europe - 'Striking, stylish and slightly strange' are the words that established lighting designer Rob Sinclair uses to describe his eerie lighting design for musical duo Goldfrapp's latest tour. Similar words could also describe the effects that he gets from the Philips Showline SL NITRO 510 strobe luminaires, which Sinclair has specified to deliver cinematic, crisp, cross stage washes alongside stark, ice white strobe effects.

Inspired by the 'film noir' artistry of Goldfrapp's latest album Tales of Us, Sinclair's high contrast lighting design uses 10 x Philips Showline SL NITRO 510's to create unadulterated up-lit washes and acid-flash strobe effects that accompany some of the band's most haunting tracks.

"We worked hard to create a lighting design that would complement Alison Goldfrapp's double exposure photography, which is currently used as the artwork for th

The Show Goes On - AC/DC have said they will not retire following news that guitarist and founding member Malcolm Young is taking a break "due to ill health". It had been rumoured the Australian band would split after a career spanning more than 40 years. However, a statement on AC/DC's website confirmed: "The band will continue to make music."

The band are one of the highest-grossing rock acts of all time, selling more than 200m albums. A message on the band's website confirmed that Young would be taking a break after "forty years of life dedicated to AC/DC", but did not reveal details of his illness.

On Tape - One in 10 young people has bought a music cassette tape in the last month, a new survey done to coincide with Record Store Day suggests. The research suggests that physical formats are still more popular than digital downloads. In t

UK - Commissioned by the National Trust, designer Mike Blacker of East Grinstead- based Blacker Design was asked to mastermind a refurbishment plan for lighting in the museum area of Bateman's - for over 30 years from 1902, the home of author Rudyard Kipling, near Burwash in the Sussex Weald.

Bateman's is now dedicated to the memories of Kipling's life and work. When Blacker Design needed a neat, energy efficient lighting solution to complete the modernisation of a number of period exhibition display cases in one of the upstairs rooms ... they approached Hastings based lighting specialist CLD Distribution for assistance.

The collaboration saw CLD design and install a bespoke slimline warm white LED strip, made from Osram LEDs into each of the cabinets of varying sizes. This illuminates the contents in a fabulous crisp, clear high CRI lightsource that looks really natural and i

UK - As PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 fast approaches, exhibitors are preparing to fill the show floor with the latest entertainment technology. Having grown its reputation over the last five years, the north of England edition of PLASA Focus has cemented its importance in the industry as a platform for building relationships and showcasing new products.

Chris Toulmin, director of PLASA Events, comments, "We're looking forward to welcoming exhibitors and visitors to both exhibition halls, as well as to the extensive seminar programme. The show is known for its vibrant atmosphere and with such a strong line-up of exhibitors, showcasing so many innovative products, we're certain that legacy will continue."

On Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 April, The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, UK will come alive with the latest audio, lighting, video and rigging technologies. With the sho

UK - The ETC's Source Four LED Series 2 luminaire, ETC Source Four Mini LED fixtures and ETC Nomad lighting control, along with SmartPack ThruPower products, are set feature at this year's PLASA Focus Leeds show (New Dock Hall, stand number C06).

The Source Four LED Series 2 fixture were first seen in public at Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt, where they got a great reception. ETC fixtures product manager Jim Uphoff and his colleagues were busy throughout the show giving demonstrations on the new luminaires and their incredible output. By adding lime green emitters, the gaps in the visual spectrum are evened out, which means that a greater range of colours and more powerful output are achievable.

The Source Four Mini LED is now available in addition to the tungsten version of the Source Four Mini and provides greater energy efficiency for lighting architectural details and in si

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