The musical Billy Elliot arrives in Barcelona with luminaries from Chauvet Professional

Lighting designer Carlos Torrijos explains his experience with the equipment of Chauvet Professional in the musical Billy Elliot, produced and presented by SOM Produces in Madrid and now in Barcelona.

Carlos Torrijos started his professional career with his own rental company – The Light Factory– more than thirty years ago. Later he went on to work as a coordinator of musicals in companies in the sector and, in recent years his career has turned towards lighting design.

along with Juan Gomez-Cornejo, Torrijos is the lighting designer of Billy Elliot, the Musical, whose material is supplied by the audiovisual company Art Project for the assembly of Barcelona.

Although a little more than a year ago the project produced and presented by SOM Produces from Madrid to the Catalan capital, the interruptions due to the pandemic prevented that until now the musical could not be performed.

While the technical part has been similar both in the Alcalá Theatre of Madrid as in the Victory of Barcelona despite the complexity of the project, one of the challenges has been the difference in size between the two theatres., since the sets have had to be cut, lower heights and adapt all equipment.

As far as the lighting environment is concerned, the main change has been the passing de conventional light to Led, which has required a change of design approach and adaptation.

Among the advantages of this transition to Led, Torrijos points out that, although he loves the color temperature of conventional luminaires, when Proyect Arte lent him the cuts E-910-FC of Chauvet Professional to test them in your studio, was pleasantly surprised, so they were bought 52 units that were mostly for the musical.

"Billy is a show more of color temperature than color itself", says Carlos Torrijos. That is why the CTC parameter that has of color temperature Chauvet Professional, of 2.800 to 6.500, and that allows you to change very agile temperature. The use of lime color has seemed a success for the musical, as well as the regulation of 0 to 100 progressive and without jumps of the unit of this manufacturer.

During the tests and programming they have had to vary intensities to achieve the desired effect, but the setup has been very fast and intuitive. In addition, Torrijos emphasizes that the maintenance and operation of the Led compared to the conventional one is much more agile, along with the advantage of making all changes remotely, no need to lower the luminaire each time, which has meant a significant saving of time and breakdowns due to handling.

Although this lighting designer had known the equipment of the Maverick series and Ovation manufacturer's, highlights how quiet these luminaires are compared to some moving heads, something fundamental when a work is represented.

specifically, Torrijos uses in the musicals many moving heads with blade and considers a great success the hybrid systems Wash, Beam and Spot, as they allow you to have all the possible functions and more space in the stage positions.

parallel, this lighting designer has organized, as director and producer, the Umbra Lighting Festival of Vitoria, that celebrates from today until the 14 of November its second edition after the pandemic.

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