Robe - LEADERBOARD - Feb 2025
Doughty - Banner - from 4 July 2025

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UK - Lighting designer, director and operator Jose Lorenzo uses Obsidian Control Systems’ Onyx lighting control platform on tours in the UK and recently ran a 78 show, three-month tour by 2021 Strictly Come Dancing champion Giovanni Pernice using an NX2 lighting console. The show, This is Me, toured the UK and Ireland from 1 March until 30 May and highlighted Pernice’s showmanship supported by a cast of professional dancers and singers.
Early last year, Lorenzo, who started working with Pernice in 2019, transitioned from a more established lighting control platform to Obsidian’s Onyx. “Cally Bacchus at [Elation Professional UK distributor] Entedi asked me to demo an Obsidian NX2 console and I immediately loved it,” the designer stated. “It’s powerfu

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USA - For the latest Broadway revival of The Music Man, the production team worked with PRG and Martin Professional to deploy an array of Martin lighting solutions, including MAC Viper, MAC Encore Performance and the new MAC Ultra Performance and Ultra Wash fixtures. Written by Meredith Willson and originally staged in 1957, The Music Man is a Broadway classic that’s won numerous Tony awards and has been staged by countless theatre companies - professional and amateur alike - in the past 75 years.
In February, a new production of musical starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster opened at the Winter Garden Theatre. Director Jerry Zaks worked with scenic and costume designer Santo Loquasto and award-winning lighting designer Brian MacDevitt to strike a balance that simultaneously felt modern while retaining the old-fashioned quality of the original production.<

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USA - Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Calvin Long to the company’s applications engineering team. Based in the South Eastern region of the US, Calvin brings industry experience and knowledge with a focus on both remote and hybrid broadcast operations from his time at Black News Channel (BNC) as broadcast manager of operations for the live news channel.
Calvin was a first-hand Clear-Com user in his previous role, configuring the intercom system to enable remote and hybrid broadcast workflows for the anchors, production team and engineers.
“With our customers increasingly moving to an IP-based workflow with both hybrid and remote operations, it’s especially important to bring on board Applications Engineers who have the kind of real-world AoIP experience that Calvin brings to the role,” remarks Justin Emge, applications engineer manager. “Calvin’s
PLASA Show 2025 - Banner - June-Aug 2025

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Germany - Optocore has appointed RadhaMohan Rajani, who joins the technical sales support team and will work across both Optocore and sister company, BroaMan.
After studying Visual Communications, Rajani joined Warren Dsouza’s Mumbai-based rental company Sound.com in 2014, where he first started using Optocore devices. This was specifically on the large stadium events and opening/closing games ceremonies in which Sound.com specialises.
In 2016, he relocated to Poland to work for Fotis Sound (another Optocore client) -working on festivals, tours and concert set-up prior to the pandemic. In 2019, he underwent his full Optocore Certification Training (OCT) at company HQ in Munich.
As a member of the Tech Support team, he will focus on client communications and relations with a particular emphasis on building BroaMan’s presence in the market.
BroaMan MD Ti

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Singapore - Theatre consultancy Theatreplan is providing the technical know-how for the upgrade of the cabling infrastructure from the analogue tie-lines system to a digital IP-based network to serve sound, video, communications and lighting across all venues, plus new facilities for digital media at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in Singapore.
Opened in 2002, Esplanade is a major centre for the performing arts, located at Marina Bay, on the bank of the Singapore River. The centre consists of a concert hall for 1,600 people, a theatre with a 1,950-seat capacity, a recital studio for 245 people, and a theatre studio accommodating up to 220.
Having been appointed in 2019, Theatreplan’s work has continued throughout the pandemic and is on-going. The scope of work includes a feasibility study, a detailed site survey, technical design recommendations and development of a

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Columbia - Maluma has a global following and record sales of over 18m and the Museum of Modern Art in Medellín, his hometown, recently unveiled a statue of the Latin artist, based on the wax figure of him at Madame Tussauds in Orlando, Florida. The star showed his love for his townspeople with Medallo en el Mapa, a passionate three-hour, 35-song concert at the city’s Atanasio Girardot Soccer Stadium.
Although this landmark venue normally accommodates 45,000 fans, demand for tickets was so great that it was expanded to 54,000, making it the most attended show in the history of the big stadium. To make room for the larger crowd, a 360° stage was installed in the middle of the field, so the audience could fill the grass as well as the stands.
Invariably, an open 360ﹾ stage brings its own set of challenges, but fans were still treated to a rewarding visual experience

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Thailand - Country Group Development collaborated with Mahajak Development to equip its Capella Bangkok hotel with a suite of Harman Professional networked AV, lighting and control solutions.
Capella Bangkok is a five-star hotel situated on a 13.8-acre lot overlooking the Chao Phraya River. In addition to its 101 guest rooms, suites and luxury villas, the hotel features three restaurants, a tearoom, greenhouse, grand ballroom and four multipurpose “atelier” specialty function rooms.
“We were responsible for the audio, visual, lighting and control systems design for the ballroom, specialty function rooms and four areas of the background music system,” said Eric Wong, AV Consultant of Katakan Consulting Co, as reported by Mahajak. “The client wanted a versatile system capable of delivering sharp, clear sound without distortion for a variety of functions like se

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UK - The Power of Events has launched a website to promote its activities: www.thepowerofevents.org
The not-for-profit organisation aims to unite interested parties from across the core sectors of the UK events industry and includes a taskforce (in which PLASA takes part) and action groups dedicated to research, skills, digital, content, comms, infrastructure and governance, and the next generation. It has evolved from the One Industry One Voice coalition, which was set up in July 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis, with The Power of Events set up in April this year.
Rick Stainton, founder of The Power of Events, comments: “We have always felt that we had to be impactful, clear and content led, mapping out and signposting the UK events industry in an inclusive way across the seven core sectors. Showing everyone what how this is developing is really important t
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Italy - Mantova-based ZaLight has been appointed to handle the Italian distribution of all products manufactured by Fantek, part of the Spanish group Equipson and manufacturer of telescopic towers, platforms, trusses and modular supports for LED walls.
"I am very happy to work with Fantek again, having launched the brand on the Italian market almost 20 years ago," says ZaLight business development manager Luca Di Donato. "In my view, Fantek's careful quality process and attention to detail are a guarantee of reliability and success. ZaLight's philosophy is to only distribute brands of the highest quality and indisputable prestige. Fantek perfectly embodies these features."
Juan José Vila, COO and CMO of Equipson, adds: "We are delighted to have a company of the calibre of ZaLight representing Fantek products. Some Fantek products are already well known in Italy but we

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UK - Nine Avolites consoles and four media servers were specified for this year’s Glastonbury. Avolites products lit nine of the main sites, including Temple, Totem, RumShack, the three Bloc9 areas, Theatre, Cabaret and Salon Carousel, and individual production teams brought in Avolites kit for additional performances on The Pyramid Stage and Other Stage.
For Avolites, the return of Glastonbury, following a pause as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has marked the festival debut for its flagship console Diamond 9. It was the demands of Bloc9 East, hosting ICON, the epic monument which debuted at Glastonbury in 2019 and featuring a 65ft head as its centrepiece, and a number of alternative performances, that led the D9-215 to be used to control the lighting for his stage. Offering intuitive and integrated control of all visual aspects of the show, the compact version of the

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China - With over 10 years of experience in advertising, photography, film and television production, the Shanghai MuShang Advertising Co is familiar with the use of technologies to enhance customer experiences. Its latest brainchild, MuShang XR stage, uses cutting-edge technology including Brompton Technology LED processing, ROE Visual screens, Mark Roberts Motion Control cinebots, Unreal Engine and disguise media server hardware, to deliver visual creativity and high-quality productions.
“We’ve been working in the creative industries for over a decade and know all too well the complexities associated with large-scale, outdoor production settings,” explains Henry Sha, the founder of Shanghai MuShang Ad CO. “From manpower to lighting equipment, to tons of things in between, we wanted to bring a more efficient and cost-effective way of doing productions to our clients

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UK - For the 16th edition of the annual Performance Marketing Awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, Bristol-based production specialists Pytch were tasked with creating an impressive array of visuals for the awards ceremony, hosted by television personality Joel Dommett, as well as for the club-like, high energy afterparty.
Responding with a lighting concept anchored by an assortment of carefully curated Chauvet Professional fixtures, the company’s design team was able to create a colourful, immersive, and multi-level visual production that endowed the stately hotel’s ballroom with a stylish air of contemporary elegance and festiveness.
With little to no scenic elements upon the actual stage to carry the visual communication and branding of the awards ceremony, Pytch was ultimately given something of a blank canvas to work with, as the design team relied o

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USA - The Dollar Loan Centre in Henderson, Nevada is home to the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League and the Vegas Knight Hawks of the Indoor Football League, seating over 5,500 fans for those sports. In addition, the Big West Conference announced last year that the NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball championships would be held there starting with the West Coast teams of the March Madness series.
The $80m-plus arena officially opened on 8 March this year as Covid began slowly releasing its grip on live events. AV systems designer and consultancy Anthony James Partners specified a DiGiCo S31 as the new arena’s front-of-house audio mix console, which was installed and integrated by C.V. Lloyde Audiovisual.
“I’d like to say it’s just cost, but the fact is that DiGiCo consoles deliver for both the budget and sonic quality,” says J

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Singapore - SurgeX has appointed Generation AV as its sales agency in the Asia Pacific region. The agreement will see Generation AV staff based in Asia providing a full service, encompassing sales, training and technical support for the brand in pro audio, residential and pro AV markets.
“We’re very happy to be working with Generation AV, which has the specialist expertise and regional market understanding that we need to help grow our presence in APAC,” comments Justin Peyton, director of sales EMEA and APAC at SurgeX. “Generation AV has an excellent record of delivering for brands, and we’re excited to work with them to further establish ourselves in this territory with our extensive range of power management solutions.
“This deal will also be of huge benefit to our existing partners in the region, who will now have access to a team able to provide local

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Estonia - The Estonian Traditional Music Centre (ETMC) is a venue which hosts international concerts, conferences, receptions, dinners, and parties.
Situated next to the historical Viljandi Castle ruins, the former 18th century granary was transformed into a contemporary concert hall and cultural hub almost 15 years ago. It incorporates two concert halls - the Grand Hall with a capacity of 400, and the Chamber Hall with seating for 80 - and boasts an extensive concert programme, including the renowned Viljandi Folk Music Festival. To celebrate the return of live events, ETMC has recently invested in a selection of new gear, including High End Systems SolaFrame Studio fixtures and an Ion Xe console from ETC.
In 2019, more than 100 concerts featured on ETMC’s roster, and it hosted an additional 250 events arranged by visiting organisations. Naturally, the pandemic led

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Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem has returned to the West End 11 years after its last record-breaking, sell-out run. Mark Rylance reprises his role as the ebulliently irresponsible, anarchic Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron, ably supported by the rest of the cast. The play is back at its West End home of the Apollo Theatre with a sound design from Autograph’s Ian Dickinson, this time featuring Reference Series loudspeakers from EM Acoustics.
“I did the show the first time around when it was at the Royal Court, followed by its subsequent West End iterations, so I knew exactly what was required,” explains Dickinson. “The Apollo is a beautiful theatre on four levels so, as ever, the priority was flawless coverage across all seats in the auditorium. The actors don’t wear microphones, so the PA system is there to deliver clear playback of the music and numerous effects used in t

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USA - Country artist Kane Brown returned to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, on May 7 to play his first-ever stadium show at the Finley Stadium. Lighting and production design for the sold-out show was by Trevor Ahlstrand who used Elation lighting on the milestone event, including the company’s popular IP-rated powerhouse luminaire Proteus Maximus, all supplied by DCR Nashville.
Brown’s popularity has grown exponentially since debuting only a few years ago. Ahlstrand has collaborated with the artist since the first headlining arena tour, Live Forever in 2019, and served as lighting designer and programmer on the stadium show. Nick Chang served as lighting director.
Following the Live Forever tour, Brown managed to get in six shows with a new design from Ahlstrand before everything shut down due to COVID. The current touring design, which contin

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Top Ticket prices - Prices for top tickets to see West End shows have risen by 21% since before the pandemic, according to research by The Stage. The average top ticket price is currently £140.85, up from £116.09 in June 2019, the publication says. The most expensive show in the survey is Cabaret at the Playhouse, for which some tickets will set you back £303.80. But the research found that the lowest-priced tickets have risen by an average of just 3.3% since 2019, up to £22.56.
The most expensive seats for West End musicals now cost an average of £154.36, although that was a relatively modest increase of 3.5% since 2019, The Stage said. Plays had an average top ticket price of £114.69 - a jump of 38% compared with three years ago.
One factor in the high ticket prices for Cabaret was the redesign of the theatre to accommodate the produ

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UK - Severine Anvoner is Martin Audio’s new HR manager. Born and brought up in France, she has lived in the UK since 2001 and now considers both the country and the area of Bucks where she resides as home.
Anvoner has considerable experience in the corporate world including at Coca-Cola Enterprises and more recently at Seagate Technology. “But I realised that a new industry would provide a different challenge and I also wanted to move away from the big corporate world,” she admits. “Although there are many positives about big corporations, the downside is there are many layers of management, and I wanted to interact more, and become closer [to the workforce]. This industry is dynamic and exciting.
Unlike her previous trans-EMEA roles, at Martin Audio her challenge will be more UK-based, offering more flexibility and versatility than she has experienced previous

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USA - Markus Burger, coordinator of music technology at California’s Fullerton College has recently overseen the recording of a string ensemble library album by LA Philharmonic with composer/director Yuval Schrem, using a portable recording rig which included 32 channels of Audient mic pres.
Comprising two ASP880s and two ASP800 eight-channel units alongside an interface, this rig is used for a range of applications. This particular recording is currently being mixed and is due to be released at the end of the year.
“We took a mixture of Audient and Neve preamps with us this time so we had a variety of recordings to choose from,” explains Markus, confirming that the recording went without a hitch. “The Audient mic presets are bullet-proof. We’ve never had any issues with them in all the years that we have had them.”
A consistent champion of Audient,

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UK - Educational roadshows led by BlackTrax specialist Tom Boucher have been outlining to students the creative possibilities BlackTrax offers to live event professionals. Students have been bringing their ideas to life by using CAST’s innovative technology.
“Taking BlackTrax into an educational environment has introduced students to technology that they will come across in the workforce. It has given students the ability to create scenarios, ask questions and really get to grips with BlackTrax as a system and the numerous integration possibilities,” says Tom Boucher.
Many questions were answered, and the system was put to the test, right down to students calibrating a BlackTrax Real system themselves and learning how to get their educational wysiwyg license.
“I really enjoyed using the BlackTrax system, I thought it was intuitive and relatively easy,”
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