USA - The ESTA Foundation will host the Behind the Scenes Boutique at LDI 2010. The State of Nevada has denied the charity's request to hold a raffle, traditionally one of its largest annual fundraisers. To make up for this loss of income, Behind the Scenes is asking LDI attendees to bring your raffle dollars to the boutique in booth #744 and show your support for your colleagues in need by picking up some special Behind the Scenes swag for yourself or as gifts for family and friends.

Many exciting items will be available for purchase, including the 2010 Holiday Cards, sold in packs of 10 and featuring artwork by some of the industry's top designers - David Gallo, Christine Jones, Jeremy Railton, and Andrew Hefter.

In addition, a new line of general purpose note cards will be offered featuring artwork by Hefter and Jones that are perfect as opening night cards or throughout th

UK - Sophie Ellis-Bextor has been up on stage with the UK's first full Electro-Voice EVA line array SR system in the newly-opened Club Neo in the Somerset town of Yeovil. The 1,000-capacity venue, a former bingo hall and cinema, has been re-modelled as a modern nightclub but still presented a considerable acoustic challenge, solved by the design properties of the EVA (Expandable Vertical Array) Series.

Interior features of the old theatre, such as neo-Egyptian mouldings dating back to the 1930s, have been retained and incorporated into a new design that can accommodate dining, dancing, live performances and even conferences. Bars and dancefloors have been added, and the balcony turned into a VIP bar and restaurant. Stage facilities have been set up for live acts as well as DJs, and the spec includes an aesthetically pleasing installation of EV EVA line array modules, with X-Subs

UK - Alexandra Palace, which boasts the largest standing capacity in Central London at 10,400 people has appointed a new management team headed by managing director Rebecca Kane, and a specialist 'Live team' to build relationships with promoters, production managers and record labels, and ensure that the venue meets the requirements of today's touring artists.

The venue has rebranded as 'the People's Palace', with a new logo and brand identity focussed on celebrating the varied audience's at the Palace in it's Great Hall, 2500 capacity West Hall, Palm Court area and Ice Rink, which is due to be reopened shortly after a major refurbishment.

The new management team will be led by Rebecca, whose extensive experience includes looking after nine historic houses for English Heritage promoting commercial performance from the hospitality, concert, exhibition and visitor markets. Joini

World - With planning for the merger between ESTA and PLASA now in its final stages, the elections for places on the new Regional Boards, and over-arching Governing Body, are coming to a close.

The month-long ballot, which ends on 31 October, pre-empts the New Year merger date when the Associations formally unite under the PLASA name.

Members of both organizations have been actively voting to elect candidates for the new European and North American Regional Boards which will feature representatives from the following groups of members - Dealer/Retailers, Distributors, Manufacturers, Production Services, Professional Services and Rental Companies, together with a representative from both the Organizational and Individual memberships.

The Governing Body is a new concept for PLASA and is designed to ensure continuity of decision-making and strategic consistency. Whilst the Chai

UK - Having received planning permission to hold the annual month-long Garsington Opera festival at the Wormsley Estate, the home of the Getty family, Garsington Opera has commissioned an elegant pavilion to house the stage, the orchestra and auditorium.

The pavilion, which will be re-erected each year, is made from a limited palette of materials - timber, fabric and steel - and will combine transparency and lightness with a sense of intimacy. Lifted above the ground to give an appearance of 'floating' over the landscape, architect Robin Snell's design takes its cue from a traditional Japanese pavilion in its use of sliding screens, extended platforms, verandas and bridges to link it to the landscape.

Unusual Rigging, a regular supplier to Garsington Opera, has won the contract to coordinate the detailed design, procure specialist suppliers and to construct and commission the

UK - PLASA is hosting a special update day for members on legislative developments and business issues. The event, which takes place on Thursday 25 November at ETC's offices in West London, will see HR specialist Clive Payne providing members with an overview of recent changes and the implications for their businesses.

In addition to a focus on legislative issues, the day will also feature presentations from Simon Miller of Allan Chapman & James, who will provide an update on recent changes to the insurance market and how members can keep insurance costs down, Krystyna Gibbons of Westfield Health, who will outline the options for a cost-effective alternative to private healthcare and Paul Robson of Medialease who will talk about leasing funding, providing an overview of current market conditions and how members can get into the best possible shape to attract leasing funding when

Russia - The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, national theatre of Russia and home to the Bolshoi Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and the Bolshoi Opera, is presently closed to its millions of annual visitors while undergoing extensive renovations. The doors were shut to the main building in 2005 and it is scheduled to reopen in a year's time. The Theatre has undergone many renovations in its time, but nothing anywhere near as major as this undertaking which is estimated at US$730 million and is being entirely funded by the federal government.

Early in October, 110 cartons packed with new lighting equipment left the Philips Selecon Auckland factory in New Zealand journeyed halfway around the world ready to take part in this crucial preservation project. In all, 561 Philips Selecon luminaires will grace the lighting rigs for the grand stage of the Bolshoi Theatre when it opens its doo

UK - The Pavilion Dance Centre in Bournemouth has just opened, with a raft of new equipment from ETC, including six Selador Vivid-R LED fixtures.

The kit, which was supplied by Audio Light Systems, also includes an ETC Congo jr control desk with fader wing, Source Four Zoom luminaires, two Sensor dimmer racks and a non-dim control panel custom built for the project by ETC at their factory in the US.

"We originally specified another manufacturer's LED wash lights two years ago," sayss Andy Stone, the theatre consultant who worked on the project for Drama by Design. "But by the time we came to place the order, Selador had been released by ETC - and they worked out cheaper and better. I like the light output and excellent colour rendering, as well as the smooth dimming and excellent range of lenses - so I'm busy specifying them on a number of different projects acr

USA - After years of being known as one church with two locations, the members of California's Oasis Church decided to vacate its Beverly Hills address and permanently settled into its 600-seat Hollywood location. In doing so, the church audio team upgraded the audio system with an Aviom Pro16 Personal Mixing System.

Now, the church is ready for both on-location and off-site celebrations, including the church's annual GodChicks Conference that takes place in Pasadena, CA. For Oasis Church technical coordinator, Daniel Rivera, the biggest factor in choosing the Aviom system was the need to change the theatre's aesthetics and to lower the stage volume. He also wanted a system that could accommodate the 60 musicians who share the stage at any given time.

"The Aviom personal mixers have given each musician the flexibility and control to create their own custom preset,&

Spain - Aena, the Spanish state-owned company that manages all of Spain's airports, recently celebrated the opening of its new Terminal One building at Barcelona Airport. The new terminal is a massive space covering 544,066sq.m and boasts 168 check-in counters, 50 jetways and 15 baggage carousels as well as a vast retail area.

A major part of the project was the PA system. Aena called upon Lexon SA, one of the largest professional audio, lighting distribution and systems engineering companies in Spain, to design, supply and install the entire public address and digital audio control system throughout the new building. The installation is similar to the one Lexon completed in T4 of Madrid's Barajas Airport.

The system installed in Barcelona Airport's T1 is based on a MediaMatrix system and a total of 314 Crest CKi power amplifiers, each equipped with a CobraNet module that enab

UAE - Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world's largest indoor theme park, opened its doors to the public on 4 November. It features more than 20 rides and attractions beneath its iconic 200,000 m² red roof.

Unusual Rigging & Engineering were involved in two particular projects at Ferrari World, one outside Galleria Ferrari, where three different red Ferraris have pride of place, hung on platforms on the walls as works of art. Placement was critical, requiring not just detailed measurements, but also a system that would enable careful manoeuvring for the final placement of the platforms.

Unusual's project manager, Leon Ingram, devised a hoist system which comprised a run of square truss and a runner beam carrying two hoists for each platform, thus enabling fine adjustments to be made both laterally and vertically.

The bare platforms were first offered to the wall and positioned

Poland - The Chopin Museum in Warsaw has been completely re-invented by the Italian architectural partnership of Ico Migliore and Mara Servetto.

"From a technological point of view, this was our most ambitious project yet," says Servetto. "We knew that we wanted to integrate all the sounds, visuals and interactive technologies together, but we also wanted to do it in a way that offered a very human experience."

On entering the exhibits, each visitor is given a unique RFID card which allows them to personalise their experience, interact with the various displays, and ask questions of the museum's electronic data archive. There is no set order in which the exhibits should be viewed; on the contrary, visitors are encouraged to choose their own route, with the RFID code sensing their location every step of the way. Each room relates to a different aspect or era

USA - Audio-Technica is celebrating its 17th year of supporting the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards by providing an extensive selection of vocal and instrument microphones for its annual awards show.

The 44th Annual CMA Awards aired live in 5.1-channel surround sound Wednesday, 10 November, on the ABC Television Network from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and featured over 200 Audio-Technica microphones, including an impressive array of hard-wired mics and Artist Elite 5000 Series UHF Wireless Systems.

The team responsible for the audio at this year's CMA's again included a who's who of broadcast audio. The audio was supervised by award-winning audio producers Michael Abbott and Tom Davis; ATK/Audiotek provided the sound system with FOH (front-of-house) mixers Patrick Baltzell and Rick Shimer; the broadcast music mix was handled by New Jersey/California-based Music

Canada - Corus Entertainment's eight-story LEED Gold-certified Corus Quay building in Toronto consolidates operations from 11 locations, including three radio stations and 24 television services, and brings together 1,100 Toronto-area employees. Touted as North America's most advanced broadcast facility, Corus Quay features a fully integrated digital infrastructure for broadcast and digital content creation. The system integration for the broadcast facility was handled by The Systems Group of Hoboken, NJ, who contracted Bexel to provide its wireless engineering expertise.

With six Telex BTR-80N wireless base stations, each with 24 TR-82N dual-channel belt packs in operation for the new facility working in conjunction with 20 wireless microphones and 16 wireless IFB systems throughout the space, Bexel's Distributed Antenna System allows maximum coverage facility wide.

"Wir

Argentina - Rio de Janeiro's Theatro Municipal marked its 100th anniversary last year and, to celebrate, the building underwent a massive renovation.

While the renovation restored the historic theatre's façade and interior to their original splendour, the stage has also received attention. Brazilian ETC dealer Telem replaced the outdated lighting system - comprised of products from many different manufacturers - with a complete ETC system including ETC Selador LED fixtures.

Theatro Municipal's 2,361 seat auditorium houses the Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and a local ballet troupe, and plays host to a litany of plays, dance performances, concerts and private events every year. Running the lighting for these shows is an ETC Eos lighting control system, with an ETC Ion backing it up. Both Theatro Municipal's in house staff and touring light

Germany - d&b audiotechnik has championed the system concept since its very beginnings, acknowledging the benefits of the control and monitoring of loudspeaker systems for its users and listeners alike. So to further this endeavour towards a greater System reality, d&b has forged a partnership with AMX to provide even further choice when integrating systems within a media environment.

The ability to remotely control an audio installation from one central position has far greater advantages than just convenience. A large distributed audio system may have amplifiers in many different locations and the time it can take just to power them up and down without a remote system is substantial and can cut into precious time schedules. It is also significant in the first place to know that each element in the system is turned on and working. The d&b Remote network not only enables this co

The Netherlands - Chief has announced a new suspended ceiling lift that claims to make installation up to 10 times faster than a conventional lift.

The SL220 features a quick three-step installation method that simplifies adding automation into an installation. It no longer requires two or more people to install; you only need one person and one ladder. No floor lift is required.

The lift measures 600 x 600 mm (2ftx2ft) to snap easily into ceiling grids and is made of lightweight aircraft-grade alluminium for easy handling. You can use this lift with any of Chief's popular projector mounts (RPA Elite or Mini Series). It will be shown at ISE 2011.

(Jim Evans)

UK - When Northern Light won a competitive tender to provide an advanced technical infrastructure for the new £35 million Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, the company set out to design a fully-integrated system that was versatile, reconfigurable and provided the facility to carry out remote system diagnostics over a LAN via the resident PC.

Working to a specification devised by Carr & Angier Theatre Consultants, evenly dispersed sound was of paramount importance, since there are three audience tiers (including fixed-seating balcony and upper balcony levels), and optional ground floor seating wagons to enable the 1200-seat auditorium to convert into a larger 1800-capacity standing space.

Thus Northern Light project manager Simon Cooper decided to base his sound reinforcement solution around Martin Audio's purpose-designed Wavefront theatre systems.

For the primary system, h

UK - Theatre planning and design practice Fisher Dachs Associates has announced the opening of its new office in the UK. The Stratford-upon-Avon office joins FDA offices in New York City and Seattle, Washington, and will be led by Flip Tanner who comes to FDA directly from a 19-year career at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Over the last nine years Tanner has been instrumental in developing both the temporary Courtyard and the permanent Royal Shakespeare Theatre for the RSC, where his work culminates when the company opens its new facility in January.

Joshua Dachs, FDA's principal, says: "I've known Flip for over 10 years and I've always been impressed by his incredible range of experience in the theatre. He also has the unique experience of sitting on the Client side of the table during intricate building projects at various scales. Further, the fact that he has a k

China - Robert Juliat has supplied a large quantity of profiles and followspots to the newly built Guangzhou Opera House in China.

Designed by London based Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House has been created as a leading 'palace of art', and a landmark of both the city's new development and Guangzhou's cultural status.

Based around a 'twin boulder' design, the venue consists of an 1800-seat opera house and 400-seat multi-functional theatre. These will run a broad programme encompassing ballet, symphony orchestral music, experimental drama and artistic and cultural exchange.

Robert Juliat Asia supplied the Opera House with a range of 2000W profiles in the form of 20 RJ 711SX, 16 RJ 714SX and four RJ 713SX, and a total of six followspots: two Lucy 13/22° 1200W HMI, two Alex 7/14.4° 2500W tungsten and two Ginger 13/22° 2500W tungsten units. The Concert Hal

Argentina - Opened in 1908, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires is considered one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. Renowned for both its architecture and magnificent acoustics, it has hosted such stars as Maria Callas, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Igor Stravinsky, Enrico Caruso, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Over time, the opera house began to show signs of its age and was in need of a technological update. When Mayor Mauricio Macri gave the approval to move forward with the redesign, Teatro Colon turned to lighting designer Ernesto Diz who enlisted the help of Stage Tech SRL and Philips Entertainment for a complete lighting design renovation.

"Teatro Colon is one of the most celebrated buildings in all of Argentina," said Antonio Agra, CEO of Stage Tech SRL. "When we were contacted by Ernesto to supply the gear for the lighting system renovation we w

Malaysia - A K.M.E. Pano line array system has been installed in the banquet hall of the Kingwood Hotel in Sibu, Sarawak.

The Kingwood Hotel is the only four star hotel in the state of Sarawak and owns the largest banquet hall of the region with up to 2.500 seats. It is used for conferences, industry events, balls and banquets. Recently the 12th Senior Citizen Fellowship Conference and the 7th Biennial Union of World Liu's Association Convention took place, two important Malaysian events with each up to 2.000 international guests.

Wah Lee Hong of Kuala Lumpur decided on four QL 906 Line Source Units and two QL 1215 down-fill units per side driven by digital controller amplifiers DA 428 and subs QLB 118. QSA 200 formed the side-fill. The fully digital high-performance loudspeakers VL 750 are used as stage monitors.

(Jim Evans)

Spain - Ateis Europe's public address technology played a key role in the service of consecration at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, 128 years after building work on the church began. In a sombre, yet impressive ceremony on 7 November, Pope Benedict XVI blessed the altar and bestowed basilica minor status on Antoni Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece.

A comprehensive PA system installed by Ateis' Spanish distributor, Optimus SA, ensured that the congregation of more than 6,500 people heard every word of the Pope's blessing. The installation was challenging for many reasons: because construction is still ongoing there is a lot of scaffolding in the building but the loudspeakers could not intrude on the decoration of the church interior.

Although the Sagrada Familia - or Holy Family church - is not a cathedral, it is on the same scale as a cathedral. The audio brief was for a syste

The Netherlands - ShowTex Netherlands manufactured and installed all stage draperies and tracks to finish off the total renovation of the historic DeLaMar theater in Amsterdam. Opening this month, the extensive construction was made possible by the VandenEnde foundation.

Performances in the 950 seat theatre and 600 seat capacity hall will range from classical theatre to musicals, cabaret, and comedy. The cultural venue will also house a specially commissioned photography collection with works from prominent photographers like Koos Breukel, Hans Eijkelboom, Cuny Jansen, Erwin Olaf, Viviane Sassen, and Rineke Dijkstra.

The grand drapes for both of the theatre's stages were created from ShowTex's Gaudi Mohair Velvet velour sewn into Wagner curtains that part in the middle to reveal the stage, instead of being raised or lowered.

All acoustic drapes, borders, legs, and stage skir

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