UK - With a heritage in effects projection development dating back to 1970, OPTI Kinetics has retained its iconic 'Solar' prefix to mark the launch of its first LED-based device.

Back in the golden era of disco the Solar 250 became probably the best known effects projector in the world. The company subsequently embraced the various evolutionary stages of lamp technology and has this month announced the OPTI Solar LED, in its customary white chassis.

Boasting light output of over 650 lumens from a 40W LED module, along with a high colour temperature for truer colour projection and image clarity, the OPTI Solar LED is suitable for all gobo and effect projection applications.

LED technology offers the operator many benefits, including cool running, virtually silent operation and a 100,000-hour effective life of the LED module - over 300 times that of an M33 lamp. LED technology

UK - The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Matilda - The Musical began life at the Company's Stratford-Upon-Avon venue, the Courtyard Theatre, to rave reviews and sell-out audiences. Having transferred to London's Cambridge Theatre in November 2011, the production has continued its success, last month sweeping the boards at the Olivier Awards when it broke records and took home seven of the prestigious awards.

As well as the awards for best new musical; best actress in a musical (presented jointly to the four actresses in the title role) and best actor in a musical for Bertie Carvel's cross-dressing performance as tyrannical head teacher Miss Trunchbull; technical elements of the show were also awarded. Simon Baker took home the Olivier for Sound Design, whilst Rob Howell won for his Set Design and Peter Darling was awarded for his C

China - Wireless Solution Sweden AB will be exhibiting at PALM EXPO in Beijing with new products and new improvements to their W-DMX product line.

PALM EXPO, held 24-27 May 2012 at the New China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing is China's largest and most established technology event for the entertainment, pro audio and light, music, trussing and staging, installation and AV industry.

Wireless Solution will officially launch the new G4S, a completely new software platform that is prepared for future hardware functions as well as many new features and updated functions. W-DMX G4S has the lowest latency in the market under 5ms, available for a software update on all existing Micro F-1, BlackBox, WhiteBox and ProBox units already shipped via the USB Dongle, says the company. The new software is patent protected in Europe as well United States.

BlackBox MK2 offers supp

Philippines - Clay Paky has appointed RMB Lights and Sounds as its distributor in the Philippines. Serving the theatrical and television industry for 12 years, RMB is a wholesale provider of specialty lamps throughout the Philippines.

"By working alongside RMB, I am certain that Clay Paky will become an increasingly visible brand in the Philippine market and surrounding regions," said Massimo Bolandrina, Clay Paky sales manager for the region. "This relationship has come about as the result of RMB's regular use of Clay Paky products on a number of high profile projects in the region and the excellent product support the company offers to its clients."

Clay Paky's fixtures are no strangers to the Philippine entertainment industry. The manufacturer partnered with RMB Lights and Sounds in 2011 to bring Clay Paky's popular Sharpy fixture to several major. In 20

UK - The Voice which is a multinational singing competition reality show started in the Netherlands as The Voice of Holland in 2010. Since then many countries have adapted the format and began airing their own national versions adding some major competition to shows like Idols and The X-Factor.

The Voice UK is currently towards the end of it first season which began its 11-week run in March 2012 on the BBC.

The lighting for The Voice UK is controlled exclusively by six Compulite Vector consoles - three working live on the show, and due to the scale and live nature of the show, a further three have been set-up as back-up systems. Under the control of lighting director Mark Kenyon are console operators Roger Williams on a Vector Ultra-Violet controlling the media servers, Tom Sutherland on a Vector Green controlling the moving lights and

Italy - Tiziano Ferro's latest tour set out from Mantua in April, stopping off at the sports halls in Italy's main towns. An elegant lighting design created by show designer Francesco De Cave featured Coemar's newly-release Infinity Spot XL. Lighting is provided by Agorà.

Coemar's new 1500W version of the swivel spots is the result of the joint effort of the Coemar technical team and feedback from Francesco De Cave.

Francesco De Cave explains, "I'm delighted I chose Infinity Spot XL. The gobos we have had custom made, the new colour palettes and powerful high-quality light are the key factors which, in my opinion, make it the most powerful, ductile and efficient swivel spotlight currently on the market.

" Two of the 34 Infinity Spot XL are used as spotlights background with the pan and tilt functions disabled and a handle mounted on the back for use by operators l

Australia - The Memorial Hall complex at Caulfield Grammar School's Wheelers Hill Campus provides a 560-seat memorial hall, function room and chapel.

Essentially a proscenium theatre with a full fly system and a hydraulic lift, the Memorial Hall is used for a wide variety of productions including concerts and assemblies.

Memorial Hall manager Brad Dart began to consider a new console and reports, "We considered various options but everything steered us towards the ETC Ion console. Over the past couple of years we've had to hire one in from Clearlight Shows for designers and as it seemed to be the most preferred console, it made sense to get one and save hire costs.

"We're getting more and more into moving lights and LED fixtures and we find the Ion really user friendly with these," continued Dart. "It's just not as cumbersome as our previous console and i

UK - Stage Electrics has announced their appointment as an authorised dealer for Philips Vari-Lite. With a number of orders already placed for supply to theatres in the UK, the appointment has taken off with a flying start.

Anna Western, sales director at Stage Electrics said, "We currently have Philips Vari-Lite units in our rental stock and have equipment on a whole range of shows including Singin' in the Rain in the West End and on the UK tour of Phantom of the Opera. As an authorised dealer of Philips Vari-Lite, Stage Electrics is able to demonstrate and specify the whole range of automated luminaires for resale and installation including the recently introduced VL3015LT and VL3515 spot luminaires. These new 1500W units offer incredible power and zoom range capabilities and make an excellent addition to the Series 3000 product family."

Adam Blaxill,

Canada - Rapper and pop singer-songwriter Pitbull, a Billboard Latin Music Award winner, has been playing to packed houses on his PlanetPit World Tour 2012 where Clay Paky Sharpy fixtures are in tune with the artist's vibe.

The tour recently concluded a cross-Canada run, will be heading for Europe shortly and plans to return to the US in the fall. Lighting designer Justin Geiger of Florida-based Impulse Creative Group designed a tiered rig with video in the centre for the Canadian dates. Impulse Creative Group consists of a design team with experience in live concerts, corporate events and houses of worship, which offers production design, system development and total show management.

"There's a high-energy club vibe to the show; it's very upbeat," says Geiger. "The venues mostly hold 8-14,000 people, and Pit is selling out all over the place."

Geiger &qu

UK - MilTec (UK) Ltd has come up with new way to colour or brand your LED uplighters. Conferences, weddings and theatre productions can all be enhanced by co-ordinating the colour with the surrounding décor or scenery or by adding your customers own logo or message.

Ad Cover is a patented cover system designed for the entertainment industry and is designed to be used with all makes and shapes of LED uplighter from MilTec's own LEDHead units to those supplied by GDS, Core, Chauvet and Showtec. The lightweight, fold-flat design makes it easy to transport and also allows for re-use on tours and roadshows, says the company.

(Jim Evans)

Festival of Flame - Coldplay are to headline the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. They will take to the stage at the Olympic Stadium on 9 September for the ceremony, titled Festival of Flame. Frontman Chris Martin called it "a great honour" and said the band were "very happy to be involved". They will be among more than 2,000 performers at the event.

The closing ceremonies are being co-ordinated by artistic director Kim Gavin, who has worked on Take That tours and staged the Concert For Diana in 2007. "Our show will be a celebration of the UK as a centre for festivals, which is a fitting finale to the amazing festival of sport that is the London 2012 Games," he said.

Arts Funding - A major shake-up in Creative Scotland's funding strategy has left the country's independent theatre sector uncertain for its future,

Australia - Never Did Me Any Harm is a new dance theatre work by award-winning director and choreographer Kate Champion (Not in a Million Years, The Age I'm In), exploring the complexities of contemporary family life. It is a co-production between Sydney Theatre Company and Force Majeure.

Force Majeure is known for making work that transforms the familiar and domestic into the poetic.

Set and lighting designer Geoff Cobham collaborated with Chris Petridis, video designer and assistant lighting designer, on the project. A PC running Jands Vista v2 software with a Vista M1 wingboard was used to operate the show.

"Essentially I built the video system which included a Catalyst media server running ArtNet so that was an exciting factor in using the Vista for control," Petridis commented. "I find that the Vista is very compatible with ArtNet and

Serbia - For Serbian TV's I've Got Talent! (Ja imam talenat!), lighting director Viktor Trifu's is employing an ETC Ion control desk. The show is similar to other Got Talent programmes across the globe, with its trademark wide stage and impressive lighting rig.

Says Trifu, "I decided to purchase an Ion control desk because of its compact footprint, allowing me to use it in any environment; and because it can be expand with up to six Universal Fader Wings. I purchased one fader wing for now, and am hoping to purchase another soon.

"Once I'd unpacked and started using the desk, I realised how easy it is to operate. The manual has plenty of detail, and I was able to get started very quickly. Ion is a very functional control desk - easy to learn and smooth to work on."

The desk was bought from ETC's Serbian dealer, Studio Berar Projekt. Marketing man

UK - Black Light has confirmed its schedule of summer training courses, which has two new additions. The programme will deliver Black Light's usual mix of 'hands-on training' and expert tuition and covers a wide range of equipment and techniques.

One of the new highlights is a series of courses on the award-winning Green Hippo range of Media Servers. The courses will provide an overview of the company's technology, which offers a powerful tool for anyone in the live entertainment sector who works with video and images.

"Media Servers, such as Green Hippo's Hippotizer, are where the industry is heading," says Claire Södergren, Black Light's customer relations manager who is organising the training courses. "It's the creative opportunities that this technology offers that made us set up our courses. We want more people to find out how this technology works and to

Germany - More than 25,000 clubbers attending the 15-hour Mayday techno party at Dortmund's Westfalenhalle were immersed in a lightning fast colour-change environment, created by 90 of SGM's new X-5 and XC-5 LED strobes. The 50 white lights and 40 RGB strobes, specified by LD Thomas Gerdon and supplied by production company, schoko pro, were in constant action throughout the marathon.

The LD had first used these strobes at a club event in Nuremburg. Two months later, at Prolight and Sound in Frankfurt, he was able to take a closer look and decided to use them for Mayday.

Although the festival is staged annually by major rave promoters I-Motion GmbH it was the first time Thomas Gerdon had been asked to design the lighting. He was brought in after working on another I-Motion event - the Nature One Festival, which is the largest rave festival in Germany.

&q

Australia - Recently the Victorian Opera presented a new production of Cinderella, the traditional pantomime. Based on the fable, Cinderella's adventures were given a special treatment by Victorian Opera music director Richard Gill, who has written both the story and songs. This production saw pantomime return to the surrounds of Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne. Cinderella featured a stellar line-up of artists from Victorian Opera and the world of music theatre.

Lighting designer for the production was Richard Vabre with Resolution X supplying the equipment. This production gave Victorian Opera's head electrician and programmer Peter Darby an opportunity to spec a grandMA2 control package.

"The grandMA2 light is a fantastic console to program with", says Darby. "We got some fantastic support from Show Technology. I love the grandMA2 light as it's so flex

Sweden - LumenRadio's CRMX technology was recently part of one of the world's largest indoor equestrian sports events; the Gothenburg Horse Show.

The show draws competitors and spectators from all over the world and is held every year in the multi-functional Scandinavium arena. This vast facility has hosted World and European championships in sports as different as ice hockey and swimming. The venue is also a frequent stage for major international concert, entertainment, and broadcast productions like the Eurovision Song Contest.

The televised horse show is not without challenges when it comes to lighting. The horses, not unlike some people, are easily startled and can get out of control if blinded by the lights. Lighting positions must therefore be selected with the safety of the horses and riders in mind rather than ease of accessibility and cabling. DMX cabling on the groun

UK - Clay Paky's lighting fixtures are Dancing on Ice at Britain's biggest arenas this spring as the hit ITV show goes on tour. With skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean headlining, the sixth live UK tour of Dancing On Ice is a sell out.

Lighting designer Durham Marenghi has chosen to use Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE and Profile 1500s, Alpha Spot HPE 300s and Alpha Beam 700s to create a dramatically dynamic light show for each skater while a single Sharpy lights the Winner's Trophy throughout.

"Dancing on Ice is always a demanding tour," explains Marenghi. "This year was no different. We have a tight 'get in' schedule and, on the request of technical manager Andy Gibbs, we've had to streamline the set up. One of the first things we did was dispense with the projection over the ice. Instead we now look to the lighting to provide the

USA - Three new sessions have been added to an already stellar line up of speakers due to take the stage at PLASA Focus: Nashville, a new style of regional event taking place, for the first time, at The Nashville Municipal Auditorium, on 11-12 July 2012.

Joining other exhibitors, such as Clay Paky, Barbizon Lighting, Robe, and Martin Professional, PLASA Focus: Nashville is proud to announce the recent additions of 4Wall, Drape Kings, The Light Source, Interspace, IATSE, SeaChanger, Techni-Lux, and ZFX, to its growing floor plan.

As well as the raft of exhibitors on show at PLASA Focus: Nashville 2012, visitors can also learn, first hand, about how those new products are best put into practice. Kicking-off the exhibitor demo sessions is Niclas Arvidsson, of Wireless Solutions with a unique introduction to the world of wireless lighting control, including Wireless DMX, RDM and m

UK - In the far south-west of Cornwall, within a deep valley, lies a large white building and a small concrete hut - an incongruous setting for a site of historical national importance. Now forming the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, this is the point from which Cable & Wireless Communications ran its undersea cables across the world, linking Britain with countries as far flung as Australia, China, Africa and South America.

The myriad mobile phone calls that occur globally, 24 hours a day, travel via slender, fibre optic threads. A new permanent exhibition, Mobile Magic, at Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, sponsored by Cable & Wireless Communications and curated by David Dawson, uses Artistic Licence Engineering technology to illustrate how this works.

The exhibition features an interactive table constructed from layers of plexi-glass, suspended from marine rigging and illuminated by

UK - West London based lighting and visuals rental company Colour Sound Experiment (CSE) renewed its long standing and highly successful working relationship with one of the UK's best loved dance artists, Leftfield, who headlined a recent War Child benefit gig at London's Brixton Academy.

CSE has worked with the band on and off since they burst gloriously onto the house scene in the mid 1990s.

The War Child gig was the first Leftfield performance of 2012, and CSE was asked to supply lighting equipment by their live / touring production manager Chris Taplin.

The lighting was programmed and operated by Chris Steel, who has been with the band since the end of 2010. The design was based around three trusses - front, mid and back.

The upstage truss was used to hang three columns of Martin Professional EC 10 LED screen, with flexible ladders in between providing the rear lightin

USA - At this year's Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Southern California, over 150,000 people enjoyed an eclectic line-up of performers, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Radiohead, The Black Keys, and a special holographic appearance by the Lazarus of Rap, 2Pac.

Spanning six days over two weekends, the total event experience was enhanced by the dramatic lighting of the festival grounds, made possible with LumenRadio's CRMX Nova wireless control. Two LumenRadio TX2 RDM transmitters controlled three DMX universes of 20 SyncroLite 7K searchlights, and 260 ColorKinetics ColorBlaze fixtures. Seventeen LumenRadio receivers were placed on remote lighting towers up to three-quarters of a mile from the control centre.

Installed by Felix Lighting of La Mirada, CA, the LumenRadio units performed flawlessly, linking multiple universes of DMX in a wireless environment unusually full of

UK - PRG is supplied a comprehensive lighting and rigging package for this year's Royal Windsor Horse show, which included a glittering Diamond Jubilee pageant in the presence of Her Majesty to celebrate 60 years of her reign. The show included over 550 horses and more than 1000 dancers, musicians and performers representing countries from around the world.

PRG's account director Mick Healey worked with lighting designers Jon Pope for Horse Power and Al Gurdon for ITV who later handed over to Nick Collier, to deliver a plan that would satisfy the requirements of lighting the arena and also to illuminate the Pageant show stage and three satellite stages for TV transmission by night. The show was programmed and run by Phil Cole for the arena and Sam MacLaren for television using Chamsys and GrandMa Lighting Consoles.

PRG's Brixton Atkinson-Banner specified a bespoke SmarTmast to

UK - Robe's new LEDBeam 100 fixtures made their UK touring debut on the Happy Mondays recent three week outing, with lighting designed by Dave Farmer of THC Design.

Equipment for the major shows, including Manchester MEN Arena and three sold out Brixton Academy's, was supplied by Leeds based Zig Zag Lighting.

The iconic Manchester alt rock / ravers returned to live performance with a huge bang, and the original line up for the first time in 19 years, feeding the public's seemingly voracious appetite for band reformations from the era.

The LEDBeam 100s were joined by 13 x Robe Robin 600 Spots, 12 x LEDWash 600s and a selection of generics, so the Robe moving lights were very much the core of the rig.

The lights were rigged on two overhead trusses, on six different height vertical towers onstage and on the deck.

Two LEDBeam 100s were attached to each of the six upright tow

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