ENSCHEDE, The Netherlands — The Muziekkwartier, a new 80 million Euro venue, has opened with Robe moving lights installed in two of the multi-purpose spaces inside. After 18 months of construction, the new theatre replaced a previous building, with different venues inside run by several companies. The performance spaces include a large hall called Podium Twente, an opera company called Reisopera, a music school and two venues for popular music, Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal, run by ATAK. Controllux, a Robe distributor, won the bid to supply lighting gear for three of the sub-venues: Podium Twente, Glosch Zaal and Studio Zaal.
“They needed a flexible system that could be used for a wide variety of shows and events, especially those taking place in the Glosch Zaal and some of the other venues,” said Kuno van Velzen of Controllux, who worked with the theatre’s technical manager, Timo Wildschut. “And so we recommended Robe.”
In Glosch Zaal, there are 6 ColorWash 575E ATs, 10 ColorSpot 575E ATs and 8 of the compact Robe ColorSpot 250ATs. These are positioned on three onstage truss sections and on box truss over the auditorium.
Controllux also supplied 10 Robe ColorSpot and 6 ColorWash 250E ATs for Studio Zaal and another 8 ColorSpot 575E ATs for Podium Twente. Controllux also supplied Avolites Pearl 2008 and Tiger desks for control.
The Glosch Zaal hosts a wide variety of bands and live events of all types, while the Studio is used for conventional and experimental theatre shows and for club nights. Both spaces are run by ATAC.
House lighting technician Frank Holthuis has worked with some Robe gear in the past, but this is the first time he has had a good chance to use the AT series for the shows that he designs and operates. “They are reliable and have lots of features and functionality which I need because of the diversity of artists I have to light,” he said.
From the start, the venue had the goal of providing a house lighting and sound system that would reduce the need for visiting bands to bring so much of their own gear, and Holthuis said that goal had been met — everyone so far has been very pleased to use the house rig. He added that the support from Controllux has also been excellent.
“Robe has always been a personal favorite of mine and I’ve used them on at least my last six tours,” said Ian Bintliff, LD for veteran U.K. rockers Uriah Heep, pictured here. crediting the gear for its optics and colors “Once they are set up and you have your positional palette sorted, they are simply rock solid — there’s no drifting at all. They are great lights.”
For more information, please visit www.robe.cz.
