ST. PETERSBURG, Russia—Martin by HARMAN lighting fixtures recently shone brightly on the stage of the Ledovy Dvorets arena for the concert of popular Russian musician, Valery Meladze. The show, “Half a Hundred,” coincided with the famed singer’s 50th birthday and depicted his creative development throughout the years. The lighting design of the concert was completely developed and implemented by the team at St. Petersburg-based Euroshow, one of Russia’s largest lighting rental companies. The lighting featured a wide selection of Martin fixtures, including six MAC Viper Profiles, numerous MAC 2000 Wash XBs, 18 MAC Auras and more.
The process of finding new ideas to make bright and memorable performances has never stopped inside Euroshow, as the concert proved. Production Designer Alena Malinka (Morozova) suggested the concept that transferred the softness and smoothness of music and elegant style of the artist into stage design.
A large LED screen was a core part of the system, surrounded by two semicircular video constructions that visually smoothed the right angles of the panels. Numerous light fixtures were placed in three parallel wavy flowing trusses fixed above the stage.
“The artist did not have any special wishes for a light show, so we had to focus on a classic academic style that matched the oeuvre of the singer and our own experience," said Dmitry Shmelkov, lighting designer for the project. "The main idea for the show was imposed by video content, prepared specially for the concert. The light design was to complete the ideas, mood and thoughts the audience saw on the screen. Therefore, all our creative ideas were tuned in a way to make the light and video a single thing.”
A variety of Martin fixtures were used for the show. Six powerful MAC Viper Profiles were mounted to create light spots for the artists and musicians. MAC 2000 Wash XBs hung on the same truss and provided the general background. The main lighting force was located on the wave truss with 18 MAC Auras, 89 MAC 101s, 10 Atomic 3000 LEDs, 36 RUSH MH 4 Beams and other fixtures.
Shmelkov used MAC Auras to create the overall atmosphere of the show. RUSH MH 4 Beams completed the picture with their bright beams and made special accents at certain moments. In addition, an interesting visual solution was implemented by compact LED MAC 101s.
“Martin MAC 101s are quite simple fixtures. However, if they are combined into a group, you can get a lot of very unusual and interesting effects,” said Shmelkov. “We used them to create a really bright lighting ‘curtain’ for the concert. A canvas of vertical beams could move, open and close, adding dramatic effect and emphasizing certain points. We adjusted the brightness of the curtain accurately, either dimming the fixtures or highlighting them at different parts of the scene. The idea of using MAC 101s in such a way turned out to be very effective and spectacular at the same time. These fixtures really helped us to accent the mood of the music and the texts of the songs.”
Martin’s Atomic 3000 LED strobes were recently added to Euroshow’s rental inventory and got their own special role at the show. The dual functionality of this fixture could meet the requirements of two creative tasks. First, they provided the blinding accent flashes that are usually expected from strobes. Second, for most of the show, the Atomic 3000 LEDs worked in “aura” mode, creating beautiful visual effects for every song.
"The first impression – it's fantastic! It is so bright that it's hard to believe you’re dealing with an LED strobe, not the classic Atomic 3000 DMX," said Shmelkov. “Martin has launched a great update of the beloved Atomic. Moreover, the new strobe is much better than its ancestor. The Atomic 3000 LED features functionality and ease of installation. For example, Atomic Colors can be easily used without an external power supply. And, of course, Aura effects suggest using strobes in a completely new way, highlighting the atmosphere of the concert.”
ABOUT HARMAN
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and connected services. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. The Company’s software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 29,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $6.7 billion during the 12 months ended March 31, 2016. The Company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE:HAR.
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