One of the most respected theatres in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh State Academic Musical Drama Theatre, has upgraded its performance credentials with a new venue and an extensive new lighting rig, including 32 fixtures from Italian manufacturer, PROLIGHTS. The extensive new lighting system was installed as part of a major sound and lighting upgrade, provided by leading entertainment technology consultant, and PROLIGHTS’ partner for Kazakhstan, Samat Show Technic.
Named after one of the country’s best-known actors, Kalibek Kuanyshbayev (1893-1968), the K.Kuanyshbayev Theatre first opened its doors in 1991 and has been an award-winning focal point for Kazakhstan’s art and culture ever since. While the original building remains a pearl of Astana’s artistic heritage as the headquarters of the Youth Theatre, in 2020 the go-ahead was given for a new, secondary auditorium to be built, to serve as the Kazakh State Academic Musical Drama Theatre.
Samat Show Technic provided a range of new lighting instruments for the new theatre, making maximum use of the low power consumption of LED sources – an extremely important consideration for the venue’s management. Instruments from PROLIGHTS, the Minturno-based maker of professional stage lighting equipment, featured strongly among the LED luminaires specified by Samat’s experienced engineers. Among a carefully selected range of LED fixtures were 30 Astra Wash19Pix moving heads and two SunBlast 3000FC strobes. In addition to these, Samat provided 12 ProTruss WU280 wind-up lifters with two telescopic sections to enable a mobile lighting setup.
Speaking on behalf of Samat, Alexander Lyakhov says, “We at Samat Show Technic have installed PROLIGHTS fixtures on various previous projects. As a brand, it has established a good reputation for dependable, professional-standard equipment. Its technical characteristics, including its excellent light output, advanced colour control and very quiet operation, make it a very desirable solution for theatre environments.”
The PROLIGHTS Astra Wash19Pix moving head is an RGBW moving wash light consisting of 19 x 40W emitters, with individual pixel control and, of course, the LED ‘pixel ring’ feature on its face.
With a zoom range of 4-54°, it is designed as a workhorse beam and washlight for all show lighting applications. It includes multiple on-board effects and offers precise, advanced white and colour control via DMX, W-DMX, Art-Net, sACN, Kling-Net and RDM. The SunBlast 3000FC strobe is 2 PROLIGHTS’ powerful, IP65 rated graphic strobe, blinder, and flood fixture with an impressive 180,000 lumen output, from 48 individually controllable LED sections.
Discussing the performance of the Astra Wash19Pix moving heads, the K.Kuanyshbayev’s head of lighting, Azamat Bekbembetov, says, “The PROLIGHTS Astra Wash19Pix offers a powerful luminous flux, and gives both an excellent beam effect and a smooth washlight. They also have a very smooth dimmer adjustment, and the external LED ring on the face is a perfect option! It’s a very low-weight fixture too, which is convenient, and quiet too. Thanks to these moving heads, the directors in our theatre are very pleased with the silence on the stage.”
“It’s wonderful to know that our products are seen as such a high-quality addition to a venue of this stature – one where a nation’s artistic output is so passionately represented! ” says Fabio Sorabella of PROLIGHTS.
Further information from PROLIGHTS: www.prolights.it
