Robe catches the Starlight Classics
- Details
It was Chris's second year in the creative hot seat - working directly for organizers Jam Events. Last year he and Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier produced a lighting co-design – and the two are now partners in their brand new visual design venture, Collective Works – however when Starlight came up this year, Josh had other commitments, so Chris added the lighting magic working with his assistant Jade Manicom.
For the first time, the 2017 event was also recorded by MNET for broadcast a couple of weeks later, bringing a different dimension and set of parameters for lighting.
The talented South African line-up included soprano Pumeza Matshikiza, tenor Jacques le Roux and local rock queen Karen Zoid who were backed by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Richard Cock in a specially devised programme to suit music fans of all ages and persuasions which was directed by Darren Hayward.
Previously there has always been a large generic rig, but this year Chris specified the Robe moving lights – six BMFL Blades, 25 x LEDWash 600s, 24 REDWash 3•192s – with their distinctive rectangular narrow-beam light field and Pointes - plus 72 x Robe LEDForce PARs - which were delivered to the event by lighting vendor, Gearhouse South Africa.
The stage was an In2Structures dome, with a set of layered risers and integrated staircases installed by set builders SDS to accommodate the 60-piece orchestra and various other artists including the lively Mzansi Youth Choir, some ballet dancers and elephants from the Handspring Puppet Company which marched through the audience and onto the stage to open the show.
Chris commented: "We enjoyed all the challenges thrown at us like making it work for television without losing any of the drama and excitement of the live experience. With such a diverse programmer, all the lights had to work very hard, and the additional scope provided by the Robe moving lights rig give us some real latitude to be creative and contemporary in the overall look.
He adds that, once again, they enjoyed the camaraderie and teamwork of working alongside the Jam Events crew and their production manager Samantha McGraw.
(Jim Evans)
