Robe moving lights were once again the primary moving light fixtures used for the Israeli Opera's Aida at the 2011 Dead Sea & Jerusalem Opera Festival, a co-production with the Les Choragies d'Orange in France and staged in the outdoor purpose built amphitheatre at the foot of Masada Mountain by the Dead Sea, Israel.
The majority of the performance lighting equipment was supplied by UK based rental company HSL, including all the Robes, and technical production for the whole site was co-ordinated by Tel Aviv based The Design Group.
Robe was again specified not only because they were the ideal fixtures to fulfil the design requirements - with 96 of Robe's most powerful 2500 series units chosen because of the long throw distances of up to 80m - but also because, as was discovered last year, they stood up so well to the harsh desert operating conditions, searing heat, dust and blustery wind.
The lights were rigged and in position for over four weeks by the time the last show finished, during which time the Robes were virtually trouble free.
Eighty of the 96 ColorSpot 2500E ATs were rigged on two massive side stage left and right trussing gantries, with 16 on the front of house gantry at the back of the bleacher seating.
Twenty Robe ROBIN 600 LEDWashes were used to light four regal looking sphinx set pieces stage left and right; some of the fixtures were recessed into parts of the set itself.
Twelve Robe RedWash 3.192s were rigged beneath the stage and set. These were utilised as strong back light sources for the entrance/exit door below the 12m high Pharaoh's head - which was the main set centrepiece - and also under a large hydraulic trap that opened during the tomb scene.
The ColorSpot 2500E ATs were fitted with special custom reflectors which were developed by Robe specially for last year's Nabucco production at Masada, which boost the light output by a further 30 per cent.
A number of tailor-made square and rectangular gobos were used in some of the fixtures, which framed the beams really tightly, facilitating the need to pinpoint very precise areas of the stage at times, particularly when filling and matching lighting in and around areas of video projection onto the stage.
Custom dot gobos were also made up and fitted into 24 of the ColorSpots for the final scene. This allowed the stage to be synchronised with a spectacular 'Galaxy effect' created with 900 twinkling LED panels which had been rigged by special climbing teams off the 600m face of Masada Mountain itself.
Verdi's Aida at Masada was directed by Charles Roubaud and conducted by Daniel Oren. It ran for 10 nights as the principal show of a wider festival entertainment programme, and was enjoyed by 75,000 people, once again receiving massive critical acclaim.
