Their births separated by a little over a year and 500 kilometers, Ahmad Jamal and Frank Gehry seem to have followed the same creative star over the course of their long, fertile lives. Jamal, who came into this world on July 2, 1930 in Pittsburgh, learned to play the piano at three, and became a […]
Great theatrical works never seem to age, but the same cannot be said of even the finest theatres. This is why The Muny, the oldest and largest outdoor musical theatre in the United States, elected to begin its “second hundred years” with a new stage system that, in addition to the IP rated LED lighting, features […]
The word “energy” comes up often when Scott Light talks about his longtime client Tauk. For anyone who has seen one of the Brooklyn band’s shows, it’s easy to understand why. Building albums around sci-fi tinged themes like Artificial Intelligence, Tauk exudes a powerful, abstract force that leaps quantum style over traditional music genres with […]
At the end of these articles, we typically ask our interview subjects how they would like to be remembered. We’ve received a lot of insightful answers over the years, but never one quite like the response from this acclaimed production manager who closed our interview by declaring “the world never remembers a coward.” Bravery and […]
Where does the light show end, and the video show begin? Pose this question to Max Koehler and Ryan Warffuel of Antic Studios, and you’re likely to get a polite, but quizzical look. In their collaborative designs, light and video flow as naturally into one another as two streams of water joining to form a […]
From the Pyramid Stage, where Tim Routledge used the COLORado Solo Batten to accent a stirring performance by headliner Stormzy, to the magical Flying Bus Stage and Greenpeace Field, to the jam-packed Acoustic Stage, CHAUVET Professional sprinkled the 36th edition of the Glastonbury Festival with vivid colors and dazzlingly bright light. Our fixtures enlivened some […]
Every lightshow is the result of an incredible (some might even say improbable) journey. Starting perhaps on a long walk through the woods as a slight vibration in the deepest recesses of a designer’s mind, then being captured somehow in a software rendering, before finally blossoming into its full glory as a panorama that transfixes […]
For lighting designers, the concert or festival stage is like an artist’s canvas, a welcoming space waiting to come alive with color and movement that will later appear to wrap themselves effortlessly around the music of the moment. Like any canvas, this stage has a frame, and it is in the perimeter area that Denny […]
Meeting this Los Angeles-based designer, we were eager to hear about some of his epic projects, like how he transformed the Empire State Building with the iconic structure’s first synchronized music and lighting display. Or, how his work as one of the driving creative forces behind some of Pink Floyd’s spectacular lightshows influenced a generation […]
From the moment it begins, with the thunderous guitar riff from his chart-topping hit “Take A Little Ride” reverberating through the house, Jason Aldean’s Ride All Night tour immerses fans in what can best be described as a theatrical experience. As the initial music builds, a larger-than-life silhouetted figure of the star appears out of […]
Sean Keegan got into light through sound; and it is his ear for music that still guides his lighting vision today, as the house LD at Washington, D.C.’s jam band haven, Gypsy Sally’s. A self-described “sound guy,” Keegan was initially hired by the freewheeling Georgetown club to run its audio system, but quickly found himself […]
Without light there is no reality… at least not in the common form of the shapes, colors and endless contours that confirm the established order of things. Driving out the shadows, light defines all that is familiar. But manipulate it just a bit, twist its angles, or send it flying off in unexpected directions, and […]