International News

MOSCOW — The Bolshoi Theatre here reopened after a six-year renovation with the largest RTS stage-manager system yet, installed by Amptown, ProVideo and TDM. The system includes two ADAM matrices with 448 ports, over 200 keypanels and around 120 belt-packs, plus a number of headsets and interfaces.

UPPSALA, Sweden — Konsert Teknik, based here, has joined the expanding list of international PA companies adding a JBL VTX line array system as their frontline PA offerings.

VANCOUVER BC — Eddie Mapp, FOH engineer for Evanescence, geared up for the band’s swing through Central and South America with an arsenal of gear from Radial Engineering, including nine J48 active DIs, four JDX guitar amp DIs, two SW8 backing track switchers and two JPC computer DIs.

LA ROCHE-SUR-YON, France — Fuzz’Yon, a 300-capacity live music venue that has been operating here since 1986. Starting out as a haven for rock bands, since 1998 Fuzz’Yon has diversified into dance genres, such as rap, trip-hop, electro and dub, as well as pop, soul and folk. General manager Mathieu Rouet recently replaced the venue’s 10-year-old console with a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console for FOH and a Vi4 for stage monitoring.

HUDIKSVALL, Sweden — Along with a 1,000-meter track for the horses, Hagmyren hosts a variety of horse exhibitions and offers visitors diversions like car bingo (where they sit in their cars and play bingo). The recently-upgraded audio system now includes Symetrix’ SymNet Radius 12×8 processors, chosen in part for their open-architecture programming, fixed I/O, Dante networking and a competitive price.

LONDON — SXS Events has been using an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system from its rental stock to manage audio requirements on the Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model TV show.

SYDNEY — For the Australian touring production of South Pacific, Norwest Productions’ Adrian Riddell sought to fulfill the preferences of its award-winning sound designer, Scott Lehrer for a natural, un-amplified sound. Instead of simply opting against the use of mics, amps and speakers, Norwest has a sophisticated setup for spatial audio reinforcement that includes four separate vocal zones on stage.

LONDON — On the closing day of PLASA 2012, Midas gave one of its new VeniceU consoles to Will Jameson, director of the Lake of Stars arts festival, which has been held since 2004 along the shore of Lake Malawi in Africa.

LONDON — In August, the Caffè Nero Artist of the Month was pop songwriter Jamie Abbott, who has traveled and performed all around the U.K., performing in as many as three locations per day. Accompanying him on the tour of Caffè Nero locations in August was bassist Tom Kenrick and K-array’s Blueline KB1, which proved well-suited for the duo’s on-the-go performance schedule.

DORNACH, Switzerland — The Goetheanum, based here, is the global headquarters for Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner. Named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the original structure was designed by Steiner himself. Now featuring two performance halls with a total seating capacity near 1,500, the Goetheanum’s audio setup also now includes Allen & Heath iLive systems.

VILLINGEN-SCHWENNINGEN, Germany —Gear from ProAudio Technology, based here, supported a variety of different events during the 2012 summer concert season, with music genres ranging from pop to classical, techno and hip hop.