Israeli Opera Invests in Robe
The world-renowned Israeli Opera House in Tel Aviv has invested in 27 Robe ESPRITE moving lights — the first Robe products in the house — as part of a drive to invest in more LED lighting fixtures and future-based technologies, according to head of lighting, Eyal Levi. The Opera House runs an average of six or seven major productions per season, a mix of new and revivals, working with a series of leading international lighting designers and lighting directors, all known for their intricate work, critical eyes, and diligence as Opera is one of the most demanding performance genres to light.
The new investment had been on the cards for some time, and Levi arranged various tests and shootouts with a range of different products, from which ESPRITE was chosen as “the best-performing fixture to meet all our needs.” Assisting in making this choice was the venue’s lighting department, comprising three programmers, two chief LX, and 10 technicians, plus some key consultant LDs. There were four main criteria on which the luminaires were judged, including first having a good dimming system and second having accurate shutters. Color mixing was also critical. Levi notes that this tends to be a subjective category with different LDs having different preferences and opinions, however the ESPRITE scored consistently well with all their LD consultants, who were additionally impressed with the range of tunable whites and the excellent flesh tones produced by the high quality, high CRI output.
Last but not least was the need for the light to run silent. Upon switching to the ESPRITES they truly appreciated the full impact of reducing the ambient noise emissions from the previous fixtures that Levi said, “sound like tractors.” Technical support was another crucial consideration when picking the brand, and Robe’s distributor, Danor Group Ltd, has built an excellent reputation and already enjoys a good working relationship with the Opera House. The lights are rigged in the overhead rig, mainly above the stage of the 1,600 capacity venue, and are controlled via a grandMA3 console, which is also new.
Claypaky Partners with the Donizetti Festival
The Teatro Donizetti is a true institution in the city of Bergamo, Italy. It was built in the late 18th century and was originally named Teatro Nuovo (new theatre). It has been the city’s most important opera house for more than two centuries and hosts an extremely intense schedule of plays, operas, and symphonic music. In November 2022, Claypaky signed an agreement with the Teatro Donizetti to supply its new Sinfonya Profile 600 moving heads, which are specially designed for use in theaters. The Claypaky Sinfonya Profile fixtures have enhanced the lighting stock at the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo’s città bassa (the relatively more modern “lower town”) and at the equally famous Teatro Sociale in the città alta (the hilltop medieval “upper town”), which is also part of the Teatro Donizetti Foundation.
Lighting Designer Emanuele Agliati of K5600 Design used the Sinfonya Profiles for the opera semiseria Chiara e Serafina, stating, “I used the Sinfonya fixtures mainly for side lighting, which often acted as key lighting. This opera is a dramaturgical reworking of the original libretto in a 1930s variety show setting. I tried to reproduce the atmosphere of those years as best I could by using very warm lights and huge contrasting shadows.” The Sinfonya Profile 600s were installed on battens about 12’ above the singers. “I used them for two purposes,” says Agliati. “Firstly, to recreate the warm atmosphere typical of incandescent light sources, in perfect combination with the PARs and Svoboda ADBs already installed in the opera house. Secondly, when the scene suggested, they conjured up cooler atmospheres, with peaks of up to 7,000K-8,000K. I kept to these two different color temperatures throughout the whole opera, and the Sinfonyas were perfect in allowing me to recreate every shade required.”
Agliati also commented that he predominantly used blue for the night-time scenes but chose pastel shades. “LED light units normally have highly saturated hues and colors. So, I was concerned about getting the right shade. I wanted to avoid an ‘electric blue’ effect at all costs. The Sinfonya Profiles provided an almost endless color palette, and very soft pastel shades, which were perfect for building the scenes.”
The Sinfonya Profile has a wide color temperature range from 2,500K to 8,000K. Its five-LED-source combination means it can generate a ‘rich,’ versatile white. Agliati further explained that the show’s lighting loses some of its nostalgic atmosphere in the second act, and colors appear: “Again, the Sinfonya Profile provided me with perfect support: soft colors, in just the right amount, without green peaks. I worked with a very wide zoom, to paint the whole scene.” Agliati added, “This light is truly excellent in every way. It performs really well when I use the zoom, focus, gobo, shaper and dimmer all at the same time. I can get all the beam shapes I want with great precision. I can even focus both the gobo and the beam-shaping blades perfectly. In a moving head for theatrical use, this is definitely a winning plus.”
Agliati called out two very innovative features of the unit: “I was extremely curious about the way Claypaky’s much vaunted ‘absolute position’ function worked. I must say that I have now experienced the enormous benefits of this feature firsthand. Firstly, since the unit no longer moves back to a reset position when you switch off, there is no risk of it hitting things in the wings. You can therefore install the unit in tight spaces or where it would not normally be possible, such as on the proscenium. Secondly, there is no risk of the batten that carries the lights swaying. Moreover, the precise return of the beam shaper to its previously programmed position was also very useful, and crucial in my case.”
A last well-deserved mention went to Sinfonya’s very quiet operation: “I know that the fixture comes with a number of features to cut the noise down to a minimum. I didn’t even have to adjust the fans: no one complained, even though I was using the light at full power on the battens directly above the heads of the singers and stage performers.”
Cameo® Lights Open-Air Opera in Lithuania
The open-air production of the Wagner opera The Flying Dutchman in the historic Paul Willy Lindenau shipyard in Lithuania was one of the absolute stage highlights in Europe in 2022 and was broadcast live on the OperaVision streaming platform.
Lighting Designer Andrius Stasiulis and event technology service provider Baltic Production Service relied on more than 200 outdoor-ready Cameo spotlights for the production on the spectacular stage.The Wagner protagonists performed on a 50-meter stage, and often moved far from one another on the ship and the laterally rigged superstructures, sometimes being up to 40 meters apart. In addition, Andrius Stasiulis and Baltic Production Service were faced with the challenge of creating a lighting setup that was equally suitable for live and camera use. The team used a total of 38 Cameo OPUS X Profiles for spot and front lighting, while the 32 Cameo OPUS H5s were primarily used for show elements.
With the OPUS X Profile moving head, Baltic Production Service was particularly impressed by the enormous brightness of the 33,000 lumens, as well as its even color mixing. The OPUS H5 equally impressed with its CMY color mixing, making the beam-spot-wash hybrid the ideal choice for theatre productions for Baltic Production Service’s Jurgis Uborevicius.
Cameo’s ZENIT W600 and W300 models and the ZENIT P130 LED PARs were used for wash and uplight tasks. Here in particular, the magnetically interchangeable diffusers played to their strengths when it came to adapting the lighting to different scenarios. For the provision of the Cameo spotlights, Baltic Production Service was able to rely on the support of NicLen: “In a small market like Lithuania, it’s very important to have a dry-hire partner like NicLen in order to successfully pull off the biggest shows here as well,” confirms Uborevicius.
