Andrei Predut debut’s Ayrton products at Romania’s UNTOLD 2026 Festival
The 11th edition of Romania’s UNTOLD Festival took place from August 6–9, 2026, at the Cluj Arena in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Ranked as the No. 3 festival in the world, after Tomorrowland Belgium and EDC Las Vegas, UNTOLD enjoys international attention as one of Europe’s largest festival productions. Nearly 100 international artists including EDM & Electronic mega-stars Martin Garrix, Marshmello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Aoki, and singer-songwriters Sting, Lewis Capaldo, Zara Larsson, and The Chainsmokers performed on a stage of gargantuan proportions.
“The stage silhouette evoked a griffin with its wings spread wide, yet the lighting arsenal that completed its architecture gave it an almost extra-terrestrial presence,” says lighting designer, Andrei Predut. “A close encounter of the third kind, on a stadium scale!”
Designed by Predut for Apart Productions, this year’s main stage system brought together an equally gargantuan lighting package featuring notable large-scale applications of current-generation lighting technology. These included 140 Ayrton MagicBlade Neo and 46 Ayrton EagleStrike fixtures making their Romanian debut, alongside 72 Ayrton Cobra and 26 Kyalami laser sourced fixtures. “The goal was to deliver a top tier design for a world class festival,” he says. “We needed high output, elegance and reliability. As a lighting designer, I keep myself informed about what is available and what the latest tools are since I was striving to top all the previous productions!”
The design was led, first and foremost, by the artistic considerations set by the festival’s art director, Florina Dascal, as the lighting kit had to be harmonized with the scenographic elements, delivering an installation that was instantly recognizable, with a strong identity, yet simultaneously leave enough room for guest LDs to implement their own show.
The working kit was built around Ayrton Cobra fixtures which outlined the upper and lower wings of the griffin and spread out into the audience field where their beams were used for aerial compositions; the beams from the debuting Kyalami fixtures formed the crown of the stage’s central circular element; the EagleStrike fixtures, also making their Romanian debut, were rigged overhead as the hard lights on stage and on the flanks of the central fin structure. Finally, a swathe of Ayrton’s new MagicBlade Neo fixtures covered the stage from side to side in a continuous wave, and top to bottom from the fin and through the catwalk out into the audience on a twin array of vertical lines.
“Each fixture type was selected for a specific role,” states Predut. “This was not a one-size-fits-all approach but rather a very task-specific selection. The entire stage was a colossal 132m wide x 36m tall behemoth, dimensions that dictated in part the choice of high-power fixtures needed to match the size of the construction. The equipment selection reflected an appetite for sheer power: the Cobras were selected for their raw power and versatility, Kyalamis for light weight and high output, Eaglestrikes were the artistic workhorse inside the black box and on the central fin exterior, combining power and beam sculpting features. As for the swarm of MagicBlade Neos, they were the novelty element generating a hallucinatory wave-of-light effect. The fluid appearance created when the beams are positioned so close together was designed to hypnotize the audience and make them wonder how the effect was achieved.”
Predut states that all the fixtures in his lighting design represent the current technological apex of the industry, and was happy with the performance given by his Ayrton fixtures.
“The Eaglestrike and the MagicBlade Neo were a premiere in Romania and I can definitely say they kicked the door out of the frame. The Eaglestrike dominated in all aspects related to power and presence, commanding respect through their force and size. At the other extreme, the MagicBlade Neos stunned with their elegance and hypnotic light waves.”
“Seeing Ayrton’s latest-generation fixtures perform on this scale at Untold is an important milestone for the brand in Romania,” says Costi Bulzan, Manager of FACE Danube, Ayrton’s exclusive distributor in Romania. “It demonstrates the potential of Ayrton technology for the most demanding live productions.”
Predut and Apart Productions, were supported by the production management team, with Radu Rus and Marius Balan facilitating the procurement of the equipment required to bring the project to life.
Credits:
Text: Julie Harper
Photos: © Courtesy of Untold Festival
© Alive Coverage
© Julien Duval
