OSA International provides Ayrton lighting, grandMA3 consoles and MDG TheONE atmospheric generators to Andrea Bocelli’s North American Tour

Las Vegas-based OSA International, Inc. provided Ayrton Huracán LT and Zonda 9 FX lighting fixtures, grandMA3 consoles and MDG TheONE atmospheric generators to lighting designer Aldo Visentin for the North American leg of legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s arena tour.  Ayrton, MA Lighting and MDG are all brands exclusively distributed in North America by ACT Entertainment.

Andrea Bocelli kicked off his run of US and Canadian dates with a Valentine’s Day performance in Raleigh, North Carolina and wrapped his tour in Detroit on April 14.  OSA International, which delivers world-class entertainment technology, event production and system integration, provided the full package of lighting, rigging, audio and video equipment for the tour.

A member of Show-Crew, Aldo Visentin has been Bocelli’s lighting designer since 2006.  He used Ayrton fixtures on Bocelli’s previous set, which toured for almost two years, primarily in Europe.  He designed the new set with four stage left and four stage right trusses arranged in a fan at different heights and tilted to increase the perspective look. Located predominantly downstage, each of the 30-foot-long fingers carried the profile, wash and hybrid fixtures grouped in arrays of four units. Two front trusses held the profile units dedicated as key lights.  Each truss also carried two- and four-light LED blinders.

OSA International provided 68 Ayrton Huracán LT fixtures to Visentin’s specifications.  “Since the rig was flown high above the deck it needed long-throw lensing, and the Huracán LTs were perfect for that along with the power of their light output,” notes Mark Fetto, Vice President Lighting at OSA International.

“The Huracáns were definitely the main actors,” says Visentin.  “Their fundamental roles were to texture the orchestra through gobos and animation effects, draw all the symmetrical mid-air beam figures, create all the effects on the audience and serve as the artists’ and choir’s key lights.”

He liked “the feeling produced by the quality of the Huracáns’ light and beams, their colours and graphic potential and the power they emitted.  The set had a relatively high trim, between 40 and 50 feet above stage level, so the output power was an important factor that influenced my choice.”

OSA International suggested 16 Zonda 9 FX to Visentin as his main wash fixtures.  “Any time we put Zonda 9 FX in a rig people are impressed by what they can do,” Fetto reports.  “They’re pretty beefy wash lights with all effects built in, including the LiquidEffect™ feature that people really like.”

“The Zondas performed the difficult task of giving colour and ‘body’ to the set, while lighting the orchestra,” Visentin explains.  “They were the soldiers of what I call ‘emulsion-light.’ Through a right colours combination, they enhanced the contrast generated in combination with the Huracán beams.  Once again my choice was made on the basis of their power and colour quality.  The vast array of effects available from the fixture also allowed me to find exactly the ones I preferred and found suitable for this type of show.”

For lighting control, OSA International supplied Visentin with two grandMA3 full-size consoles as he requested.  “I have been using grandMA3 software since last year,” Visentin says.  “I decided to switch to the new software because I considered it mature enough for the specific needs of this show, but above all for the desire to explore the new world it offers.

“I like how grandMA3 responds more closely to my needs from both a hardware and software point of view.  The new software, in addition to offering new potentials to the classic functionalities, responds much better to Andrea Bocelli’s touring.  On a global level, the touring production often is not able to be consistent, so grandMA3 helps me more precisely than before to quickly convert my show to the different equipment we encounter locally.  Furthermore, the introduction of a greater quantity of physical controls helps me with the busking playback type of show that meets specific artists’ needs.”

OSA International also furnished two MDG TheONE™s, which Fetto says are often requested for larger venues for their ability to quickly generate atmosphere to fill a big space.

“I always request MDG machines, the number and model depending on the venue,” Visentin notes.  “After testing different brands over the years, I find MDG’s haze persistency to be the best, even in adverse conditions.

“For the Bocelli show, the aim is to fill the venue at the right level, which means not so much as to be obvious to the audience but enough to enhance all the volumetric mid-air effects.  That’s a difficult equilibrium to maintain, especially in those venues where air conditioning works against us.  But MDG in that case makes the difference!”

Photos: © Dennis Suglich
Text: Courtesy of ACT Entertainment