Not only is 2008 the year of Giacomo Puccini’s 150th anniversary celebrations, it is also the 54th year of the Puccini Festival. And the festival now boasts a brand new open-air stage lit with help from ETC on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli in the composer’s birthplace of Torre Del Lago, northern Italy.
As well as lighting the opening concert by La Scala Philhamonic Orchestra and Chorus and a tribute to Puccini by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, an ETC Congo jr control desk – with a second as backup – was used for Turandot, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and one the composer’s lesser known operas, Edgar, which featured a set design by UK artist Roger Dean (famous for his album cover designs for top bands such as Yes) and costumes designed by his daughter Freyja.
For board operator Federico Canibus, this was the first time he’d used an ETC desk. He says: “After getting into the ‘mentality’ of the desk’s operation, thanks to a training session by ETC’s freelance trainer Davide Gabbani, I really enjoyed working on it and found it intuitive and easy to use. The desk makes easy work of storing absolutely every detail of all the cues and presets for each show and also ensures excellent in-depth editing facilities when I need to change anything – from the fade up and fade down and the presets of each individual conventional luminaire to the possibility of changing every single parameter of each automated unit. Here at Torre Del Lago we’re using a wide range of both moving heads and conventionals.”
Canibus works as an operator on theatre productions, concerts and corporate events in Italy and abroad, as well as in TV studios, controlling conventional and automated lighting.
Luca Bronzo, one the theatre’s two head electricians, says: “The two control desks were purchased by the Festival’s organisers, the Puccini Festival Foundation, whereas the luminaires themselves, which included some 60 ETC Source Fours, were rented from Sound City of Ancona. The DMX and dimmer aspects of the new theatre were handled by Decima, who suggested the Congo jr systems. I wasn’t familiar with them, but have known Fulvio Cotogni, ETC’s regional manager for the southern region, for some time and, after having seen the desk at Rimini’s SIB expo, I attended a course on the Congo in Rome and was loaned one to take home to study in detail.
“I found it a very immediate, intuitive system to use which really facilitates luminaire management and control, particularly automated fixtures’ gobos, colour and all their other features. It also enables operators to have a constant clear view of the entire rig while they’re working, which is extremely important.” Bronzo has worked as lighting designer, operator and stage manager for past productions staged at Torre Del Lago and has worked at the Festival for eight years. He is also in charge of the management and purchase of lighting and electrical equipment at Parma’s Teatro Due.
Lighting designer for all four opera productions staged at this year’s Festival, which runs from June to the end of August each year, was Valerio Alfieri, whose CV includes designs for Luca Ronconi, Franco Zeffirelli and Robert Wilson.
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