Spectacular environments, exclusive productions and international artists: these are the elements that make the Tones on the Stones Festival an unparallelled project, unlike any other in the world. The Festival's goal and challenge is to enhance the aesthetic and historic values of the Palissandro Marmi quarry (Gruppo Tosco Marmi) in Crevoladossola (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola). The setting that the impressive "gash in the mountain" provides for the show is huge and striking: it transforms the quarries into a fascinating, unique, enormous stage.

It was one of those gigs where nothing can be allowed to go wrong. The World Cup Concert at the HSBC Arena in Barra de Tijuca was due to be broadcast delayed-live to more than 50 countries within hours of finishing, starting with China. The concert starred Plácido Domingo, Lang Lang, Puerto Rican soprano, Ana María Martínez, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and Opera Chorus and local singing sensation, Paula Fernandes made a surprise appearance. The musical feast featured highlights from Domingo’s extensive operatic repertoire married with songs from Broadway, operetta, Zarzuela and popular music from around the world.

"At the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, we have always considered sound a key element in the performance itself," shares audio engineer Russell Cowans. Joining the company in 2011, Cowans quickly learned that almost every element of the production is given artistic attention, much like the dancers themselves. "Each detail must come together to compliment what the movement on stage is trying to convey. Every decision we make for the sound system goes to support that end vision. For audio, that means everything from volume level, allowing the dancers to feel their movement and be energized by the sound, all the way to equipment proportions, so as not to interrupt the sight lines to the dancers. It is about the whole package coming together, and it is amazing to work with a company who gives priority to that."

Bristol based lighting and visuals rental specialist Fineline supplied lighting, LED side screens complete with new bespoke supporting structures and an IMAG camera package for Warwick Castle’s 1100th Anniversary Summer Proms Spectacular - a music, fireworks and pyro extravaganza to celebrate the founding of the Castle.

An all Robe moving light rig was specified for the 2014 Beiteddine Art Festival in Lebanon – a vibrant, high profile annual summer music and cultural event with an all-star line-up of local and international artists that is staged against the magnificent backdrop of the 2000 year old Beiteddine Palace.

Lighting designer James Bawn specified the strong beam of the Clay Paky Sharpy to crown his colourful lighting design for Kirklees’ Arqiva Tower, known locally as the Emley Mast, during the opening of the Tour de France celebrations in Yorkshire.

The first 12 Robe ParFect 100 fixtures in Slovenia have been purchased by the Španski Borci Culture Centre in Ljubljana, a high profile venue run by EN-KNAP Productions which is the largest privately managed facility for cultural activities in the country.

Wireless Solution Sweden AB’s award-winning W-DMX™ was recently part of the famed Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with Visions Lighting once again supplying a superior lighting scheme for the show. The festival featured many past and current legends of music including Muse, Motorhead, Pharrell Williams, The Cult, Pixies, Beck, and Fatboy Slim, just to name a few. The two-weekend festival hosted more than 500,000 attendees.

Proving last year that London’s controversial Hyde Park festival site could be uniquely protected from noise leakage into the surrounding neighbourhood by deploying Martin Audio’s award-winning MLA technology, promoters AEG Live adopted a similar solution for this year’s Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park festival — but with significant enhancements

When Spanish tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo took to the stage for the Concert in Rio, honouring the close of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, television audiences received a crystal clear sound thanks to DPA Microphones’ d:dicate™ Recording Microphones. Performing at the HSBC Arena Stage in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, July 11, Domingo was accompanied by Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra.

UK Live is a new series of one-day festivals held during June at three locations around the country. Leading audio rental company Capital Sound was tasked with providing audio systems for both the NE Live and SW Live sites.

Leading UK lighting and visuals rental specialist HSL supplied equipment for a bold, vibrant interactive lighting installation work - ‘Control t’force’ – created by Lighting Designer James Bawn, that illuminated the 330 metre high Emley Moor Mast in west Yorkshire UK, which is the tallest freestanding structure in the UK, an iconic local landmark and the main UHF transmitter for most of the county.

Robe moving lights – 174 in total - were specified by lighting designer Helmut Krammer for the 2014 Summer Night Concert, performed for its eleventh year by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna which provided a sumptuous and beautiful Baroque backdrop to the event.

Mobile production is most often associated with the world of sports and large entertainment events, but a growing contingent of non-broadcast organizations are looking to outside production teams to increase quality and expand audience reach.

STAGETEC equipment supports TV broadcasts of Estival Jazz, an international jazz festival in Lugano produced by the Swiss broadcaster RSI1 who is responsible for the Italian speaking part of Switzerland.