Sting - Durham Cathedral DVD shoot

For the exclusive DVD concert for his new Winter Album „If On A Winter’s Night”, musician Sting arrived backed with 35 guest musicians at the ancient Durham Cathedral in the North of England. For this concert, especially produced for the DVD production, A&O technology delivered for the British service provider HSL FALCON FLOWER 7K and FALCON BEAM 7K.

Lighting designer Manfred „Ollie“ Olma wanted to use FALCON FLOWER and FALCON BEAM fixtures to accentuate the cathedral’s architecture in a memorable way, both for the cameras and the live audience. The challenge throughout the get in, tech and rehearsal periods in the unusual venue was the fact, that the cathedral was open to the public all the time. Therefore wiring and assembly had to be done in a very careful and safe way.

The stage was positioned below the crossing, right at the heart of the church. From behind the stage, in the high altar/quire area two FALCON FLOWER 7K shot their light beams directly down to the aisle/nave. To the sides of the crossing, each east and west transepts stood a FALCON FLOWER 7K. From there they skimmed the orchestra and shined up into the ceiling of the ribbed vault. At the end of the nave one more FALCON FLOWER 7K  set a course of light up to the stage. A destinctive feature was the FALCON BEAM 7K and the FALCON FLOWER 7K, rigged by a winch 30 metres in the air from the bell tower, directly above the crossing.
This installation presented an extremely impressive result in lighting composition. Occasionally musicians and live audience were completely embedded into light. The interaction of music, light and lighting reflexes on the walls of the remarkable venue features a breathtaking play.

The State-Of-The-Art powerful fixtures of the manufacturer alpha one enchanted the interior of the most famous cathedral of England, constructed in 1093. The Durham Cathedral is a designated UNESCO world heritage. With aesthetic, partly coloured accents of light mo2 design (lighting design) and Markus Janning (programming) knew how to support and to accompany the mood of each of the songs sting and his band performed for the winter album in a gently way.