International News

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — With sold-out performances on the horizon, tour management for Fiddler on the Roof wanted a powerful system that would ensure clear delivery of the musical’s potent wordplay and orchestral accompaniment. The Fiddler team selected locally based Oceania Audio to provide sound reinforcement for the Auckland dates, and Oceania chose to supply a self-powered system based on Meyer Sound’s MILO high-power curvilinear array loudspeaker.

LONDON — Britannia Row at Frankfurt’s Prolight & Sound 2007 has purchased 84 of Outline’s new T9 computer controlled amplifiers for its Butterfly inventory. The T9 reportedly produces 2 x 4800/3000/1300 at 2/4/8 Ohms in a 1 unit rack space with a weight of only 12 Kilograms. 

LONDON — Draping and stage machinery specialists J&C Joel has designed, manufactured and fitted 42 acoustic elements into the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall  — one of London’s most iconic Modernist buildings.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC —The first Festival International de Jazz de Montréal was held at Man and His World (the former Expo ’67 World Fair site) and attracted 12,000 spectators. Twenty-seven years later, the Montreal Jazz Festival had some 30 countries represented with 500 concerts, attracting over two million attendees, many which travel to Montreal every year to join in the festivities. Celebrity guests included Bob Dylan, Harry Connick, Jr. and Keith Jarrett among others.

NUREMBERG, GERMANY — The Alterna Stage at the festival Rock Im Park, which together with its associating event Rock Am Ring is one of the largest German Rock and Pop festival with about 100.000 visitors each year, was set up with audio by HK Audio Cohedra.

CHESSINGTON, ENGLAND — George Michael made his return to the world’s arena stages using two DiGiCo D5 Lives for front of house sound with a D5T on band monitors. But for the first Wembley show, a third D5 was added to mix the sound for a live television broadcast.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA —A new production of the musical Miss Saigon has opened in Australia, scaled back from its original large-scale format to accommodate a wider range of theatres. To deliver audio coverage with a smaller footprint than previous Miss Saigon productions, sound designer Peter Grubb, a director of System Sound Pty Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia, modified his previous design for the Korean production to a configuration incorporating eight self-powered M'elodie ultra-compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND — The City Centre Leisure Group has just opened Club 2020 in Bournemouth — with sound reinforcement provided by Northampton-based Production Hire.  

FEZ, MOROCCO —Filali Music recently deployed their new JBL VerTec system at one of Morocco’s annual events, “Festival des Musiques Sacrées du Mondeo, Fes, 2007,” at Bab Boujloud, a city square in the historical Moroccan city of Fez.

CARDIFF, WALES —The brand new musical Never Forget opened in Cardiff last weekend on the start of its U.K. tour — with plans to bring the show to the West End in the autumn. 

AUSTRALIA — Warner Village Theme Parks has opened the Australian Outback Spectacular (AOS), selecting two Allen & Heath iDR-8 DSP mixers and a PA12-CP powered mixer as part of the extensive audio installation.