SolaSpot Pro 1500s Are Star Performers at Opera Philadelphia

	Lighting design for Breaking The Waves World, premiere by Pablo Santiago. Photo: Nicholas Karkos

Philadelphia's only producer of grand opera, Opera Philadelphia offers large-scale works at the historic Academy of Music, intimate chamber operas as part of the Aurora Series for Chamber Opera at the Perelman Theater, as well as frequent community performances. In 2016, the organization began using High End Systems SolaSpot Pro 1500s on its productions. Specified by technical production manager Drew Billiau and supplied through Pinpoint Lighting, the SolaSpots have added their trademark vibrant colors and graceful movement to operatic performances throughout the year.

Billiau started out lighting bands as a teenager, and moved into theatre and dance after getting his MFA at Temple University. He started at the opera in 2001 as the lighting coordinator, moving into the resident lighting designer position from 2002-2012, before becoming the venue's technical production manager. He comments, "Our schedule at the opera is tight in the Academy of Music. The theatre is a roadhouse, so we try and operate like a tour -- prepping our gear in our shop so we can load electrics in the first day. We do three days of loading and focus and then start tech. Opera is a tough gig, as you usually get three or four rehearsals with singers and that's it."

In specifying moving light technology, Billiau says that ambient noise level is a huge consideration. "For our needs, the choice of a moving light is a very tricky thing -- the first thing is noise; a quiet light has been the thing we have always looked for. There is nothing worse than designing a show, and having the Maestro come in and ask you to turn the moving lights off because they are too noisy! On top of noise, shutters and a good color rendition are extremely important. We've been using the SolaSpot Pro 1500s in both front-of-house and overstage positions; the quietness of the fixtures allows us to place them in our box boom positions, which are 6' above audience members, and we have never had a noise issue since we started using them."

Pinpoint's John Duncan brought a SolaSpot Pro 1500 to the company's 2015 Christmas party where Billiau got a closer look at the fixture. "They did a shoot out for me with many other fixtures -- I was quite impressed with the output, color features, and the incredible silence of the unit. The ability to adjust our distro needs due to the lower power consumption has saved us money and time, very important elements in our productions. And in the shows we have been using the SolaSpot on, we have had zero failures or issues, which to me is huge -- a failure means time and money to swap out."

"Pinpoint Lighting and the opera go way back -- John has been a friend for years, and has always provided me with gear and service. As I always tell him -- gear is gear, but what I look for in a shop is service ... who can I call at 11pm when there is a crisis? John, Leslie, and the rest at Pinpoint have always been there to take care of my needs."