Scharff Weisberg has supplied a complement of moving lights and lighting-control equipment to lighting designer Lance Darcy for the free summer concert series at the World Financial Center Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan.
The World Financial Center is a complex of four office towers housing the world headquarters of American Express, Merrill Lynch, Dow Jones, and Deloitte. Its Winter Garden atrium is the venue for many events including the summer concert series, which opened with Berlin-based Ulrich Schnauss and was followed by the Winter Garden’s first dance party DJ’d by Kode9 and performances by the Brazilian Connection Quintet and other artists.
“Scharff Weisberg supplied the lights for the entire series,” Darcy notes. “The venue has a lot of conventional lights, but they aren’t as good as moving lights for saturation, movement and focus. The Winter Garden people hadn’t seen any of the moving lights we ordered—it was technology they hadn’t played with before.”
Scharff Weisberg furnished Darcy with Martin TW1s, Martin Mac 700 Profiles and Color Kinetics 72-inch Color Blazes plus a grandMA full and a grandMA Light for lighting control.
“Much of the lighting design was about getting a lot of color on stage and a variety that would accommodate a variety of acts,” says Darcy. “We had a lot of flexibility with the moving lights in general and intense color saturation with the Macs; they’re tungsten fixtures so they’re spot on with video elements. The Mac 700s in the back make great patterns and textures never done in that space before.”
Darcy also likes the flexibility the grandMAs afford. “They can do anything and can be configured to run for and with any programmer,” he notes.
Formerly an electrician, Darcy has a long history of working with Scharff Weisberg. “As a lighting designer, the company’s philosophy aligns well with mine,” he says. “Scharff Weisberg focuses on value rather than price, so what you get for your dollar is a lot of value. When I work with them I know I’m going to get a good production, and they’re going to work with me. They always exceed my expectations and provide me with things I hadn’t thought of. At the same time they don’t try to get me to take equipment that’s convenient for them. They only offer me what’s right for the job.”
In addition, Darcy can count on Scharff Weisberg to “get the gear to me on time and make sure it works the first time. That totally outweighs the bottom line.”
Acting as technical director for the series is Allan Abrams with Elysa Marden the space’s production manager.
