DATES: Throughout 2017
THE DESIGN: “I always have Andrea in full light. The audience wants to see him. Because he is blind, we mark off an area around his microphone with sticks taped on the stage, so he can feel it under his shoes. This allows him to know where he is and in the light.
“With 70 musicians, 60 in a choir, plus children’s choir and soloists, that’s about 150 people onstage. I have to light it to make sure the musicians can see their music to play properly or they will stop playing if light hits their eyes. I don’t use many side lights because those beams would go to their eye-level as they are sitting down, so I let the light beams ‘rain’ down from above.
“To distinguish Andrea from the musicians, I use different colored lights on the whole group, and white on him. There are no quick movements, everything is smooth and slow. Because that’s what his music is like, and that’s what the audience likes. His shows have a look that has become his brand. The major rule is play by colors. I have no cue lists. Andrea’s repertoire is so vast, I just go busking on the console. Often it depends on how his voice is that day, as to which songs he will perform.”
BACK STORY
HOME BASE: Padua, close to Venice, Italy.
IN THE INDUSTRY: 30 years
WITH THE ARTIST: 10 years
CREATIVE SPARK: “A friend invited me to dance in a disco club in town. I was struck by the magical atmosphere created by the lighting.”
DESIGN INFLUENCES: “The first time I saw a Cirque du Soleil show, I thought, ‘this is genius.’ Sometimes, people tell me I should see a certain show on tour, and I question where I should or not. I don’t want to be unconsciously influenced by someone’s design.”
DEFINE ‘GREAT LIGHTING:’ “Light expresses emotion. You can interpret the same song for different people in a million different ways. For example, if you make the lighting fast, it conveys a different mood than if you go slow. The emotion goes through me, and I interpret it with the lighting.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO? “I experience special places that few get to experience. A highlight: playing in front of the pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Egypt in 2010. In a single, short gesture, when I raised the fader on the console, the Sphinx came up, now lit in the darkness. Wow. There was a great quantity of energy in that short moment. I also like experiencing different cultures around the world. I’m interested in how so many different cultures are drawn to the same music. What is the common reason to drive people like a magnet to have the same experience? But though it’s the same music, we all experience something different because we all bring something different inside.”
