Grand Clay Paky event at the Royal Albert Hall. Clay Paky presented some of its most recent and innovative products to an audience of professionals – lighting designers, directors of photography, rental managers, production managers, dealers and the trade press – in the prestigious London setting of the Royal Albert Hall on 20 March 2009. The demonstration involved, first and foremost, the new Alpha Beam 1500 moving beam lights, as well as Alpha Beam 300s and the long-throw Alpha Wash 1500 LT wash light.
The presentation consisted of a live show and a technical demonstration. The live part was performed by Durham Marenghi on the rig he put together for Raymond Gubbay’s extraordinary bi-annual Classical Spectacular at the Royal Albert Hall, an event which admirably combines traditional classical music with a modern lighting show.
During his career as LD, Durham Marenghi has worked continuously for years with big names in music, theatre and television. He has always been very attentive to technological developments, often using innovative technology for his own shows. The addition of the new Clay Paky Alpha Beams to the standard show lighting rig of Classical Spectacular created a fantastic showcase for the fixtures and gave them the opportunity to ‘outshine’ the other manufacturer’s fixtures on the rig.
The Alpha Beam 1500 is a moving light that produces a solid super-concentrated parallel beam. It is very much brighter than other lights in the same power category and reaches distances that can normally only be reached by spotlights of several thousand watts. It is much more than just a moving light beam. It has an innovative focusing system (patent pending) and wide range of effects so that the beam aperture and graphics may be chosen as wished.
The Alpha Beam 300 is a moving beam with a 300 W lamp that produces a light three times as bright as a normal 1200 W wash light. It was launched in 2008 and was an extraordinary commercial success in just a few months. It did so well that it won the 2008 Plasa “Award for Innovation”, and has been used by a great many lighting designers for international tours and productions: Tina Turner, AC/DC, Dancing on Ice, the Cure, High School Musical, Queen + Paul Rodgers, the television studios of major national TV stations …. to name just a few.
The Alpha Wash 1500 LT is the first wash light specially designed for long-throw applications. It is perfect and irreplaceable for events in very large environments, such as stadiums and arenas. Thanks to the 1500 W bulb and special lamp insert, it produces an incredible 45,000 Lux beam. The diffusion and aperture angle may be adjusted using a linear zoom and two rotating beam shapers.
These three Clay Paky lights were used together for the first time at the Classical Spectacular. Durham Marenghi said: “The Alpha Beam 1500s and 300s and Wash 1500 LTs on the rig gave extraordinary added value to a show which has a recognised dynamic lighting display for audiences throughout the world for years. These lights have high luminous efficiency and are ideal for the size of the stage and vastness of the arena auditoriums”.
After the spectacular presentation in the main auditorium Clay Paky arranged a technical demo in a separate specially equipped room inside the Royal Albert Hall. Here guests were able to assess each light in detail, and study its features and specifications. The event concluded with an informal get-together between the numerous guests, Clay Paky staff and Royal Albert Hall personnel.
Pio Nahum, Clay Paky Sales and Marketing manager, commented: “It was a great success because we were able to bring together important UK trade dealers and organize a mutually beneficial exchange of professional information, which we consider fundamental for sector growth. I would especially like to thank the technical staff at the Royal Albert Hall for their precious cooperation, and Raymond Gubbay Limited, who contributed greatly towards the success of the event with their kind support and helpfulness”.