
(01/05/2015) London's iconic Royal Albert Hall is the first live performance venue in the UK to invest in Robe's BMFL Spot moving light, with a purchase of 17 fixtures for its in-house lighting rig.
The decision was taken by the Hall's Senior Technical Manager, Ollie Jeffery, and the venue's award-winning Lighting Design and Systems Manager, Richard Rhys Thomas. The units were delivered by Robe UK in conjunction with TSL Lighting where the process was co-ordinated by Ashley Lewis, Robe UK's Key Account Manager for Touring, TV, Theatre & Film.
The Hall stages approximately 400 performances per year in the main auditorium, which has a capacity of over 5,000 (variable according to configuration) and is known for its splendid environment and famous organ, built in 1871 and comprising 9,999 pipes.
In addition, there are about 400 events in other spaces around the building, encompassing all types of performance from comedy and cabaret to world music, education workshops and storytelling sessions for children.
It is one of the busiest - and most prestigious performance spaces in Europe, and the hectic schedule keeps Ollie and his technical team of 16 fully energised all year round.
Ollie said: 2015 is a significant year for us. We are investing in over £400,000-worth of technical developments throughout the building: including re-building our stage, and installing a new riser system and new orchestral chairs.
The purchase of the new BMFL is the start of a five-year replacement programme for lighting, which will see us update some of the older units. It is important that we have the most up-to-date technology for the vibrant and diverse selection of incoming productions choosing to use the in-house facilities. Keeping abreast of the latest technologies, and the desire to offer flexible world-class solutions to clients, were both major factors in the BMFL purchase.
More recently, Richard and the lighting crew have been sub-hiring Robe fixtures regularly for an assortment of shows, so by the time they bought their own, they had plenty of experience with the brand, first hand.
Just to be sure, as it was a big decision, they also invited six independent lighting designers to assess the options and make recommendations for a high powered moving light purchase which culminated in a day of shoot-outs between all the short-listed contenders.
As a direct result of that, they decided on BMFL Spots.
Richard said he liked the brightness, the zoom range and the speed of the BMFL Spots, together with the smooth, streamlined colour-mixing and the elegant dimmer curves.
We needed a truly versatile fixture to cover for all the shows that we are asked to light ourselves, in addition to a light source that would satisfy a wide range of visiting LDs from all over the world, Richard said.
The goal is to offer the highest production values to anyone choosing to use the house systems which can be made available with or without our design services. The new BMFL Spots are helping to expand everyone's options.
One of the first seasons to use the lights was the high profile, 15th-anniversary series of Teenage Cancer Trust shows, with a star-studded line up including Stereophonics, The Who, Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and a comedy night hosted by Kevin Bridges.
Dave Farmer was brought in by Teenage Cancer Trust to co-ordinate lighting for the event.
The Mountbatten Festival of Music, programmed by Tom Young, was the first major event lit by Richard, utilising 16 x BMFLs plus 22 x Pointes and 20 x LEDBeam 100s.
Most of the venue's over-stage lighting now comprises moving lights, and they have also invested substantially in LED lighting to highlight the Hall's magnificent Victorian architecture. Their first Robe purchase in 2013, of 38 x ParFects, was to light the roof dome and the organ.
We knew from this that we could trust the reliability and build-quality of Robe, said Ollie. We are extremely excited by this purchase and hope the strong relationship we have with Robe will continue over the coming years.
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is the world's most famous stage. Last year, its breathtaking auditorium hosted 397 shows by the world's greatest artists. The magical atmosphere combined with inspired artists creates legendary events.
Opened in 1871 as part of Prince Albert's vision for a centre for the Arts and Sciences, the Hall is a registered charity which operates without any public revenue funding, remaining true to his founding ambitions within a modern context. Extending the brand with almost 400 events outside the auditorium, the Hall has broadened its appeal to younger, diverse audiences whilst still engaging its existing customers. It also works with schools, young people, disadvantaged groups and partners such as Music for Youth through its Education & Outreach programme, reaching over 100,000 participants each year as part of its extensive public benefit remit.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
03/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/04/2026
CVP, one of Europe's leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, today announces the launch of its new German operation and the formati...
03/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) today announces the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer, strengthening its leadership as the company conti...
03/04/2026
Net Insight introduces programmable Trust Boundaries that make live media interconnection predictable as traffic moves between facilities, networks and cloud en...
03/04/2026
Winning in the new media economy: Avid showcases AI-powered, connected intellige...
03/04/2026
NUGEN Audio CEO Dr. Paul Tapper to Lead Presentation About Dialog Intelligibilit...
03/04/2026
NAB Show 2026: PlayBox Neo Highlights Workflow, Security, and IP Advances
Brie Clayton April 2, 2026
0 Comments
PlayBox Neo will showcase the latest i...
03/04/2026
For Taku Hirano, Everything Is Connected From touring and composition to teaching and instrument design, the in-demand percussionist sees it all as one body o...
03/04/2026
Berklee Honors Humberto Ramirez with Master of Latin Music Award The alumnus and acclaimed trumpeter is honored for his influence as a performer, composer, an...
02/04/2026
HBO and NFL Films have announced Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Sea...
02/04/2026
Haivision has announced the Makito ONE, a single-blade video encoding and decoding platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform combines dual-channel video encoding...
02/04/2026
Telestream has introduced UP.Lens, a cloud-based multiviewer and monitoring serv...
02/04/2026
Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5220, April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center), marking the company's 60th anniver...
02/04/2026
Net Insight has introduced programmable Trust Boundaries, a feature integrated i...
02/04/2026
Bitmovin has announced support for SGAI (Server-Guided Ad Insertion) in its playback products, using HLS interstitials. SGAI combines elements of client-side an...
02/04/2026
Riedel Communications' SimplyLive RiMotion R12 replay system is supporting B...
02/04/2026
LTN, a managed IP video transport company, and Ateme, a video compression and de...
02/04/2026
Harmonic has announced that TDF, a broadcast infrastructure operator in France, has deployed Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor and ProStream X Video S...
02/04/2026
Eluvio and the United Rugby Championship (URC) have announced first-year results...
02/04/2026
The Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports have announced that ION will broadcas...
02/04/2026
ESPN will debut Courtside at the Women's Final Four Presented by AT&T, an alt-cast airing Friday, April 3 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, and Sunday, A...
02/04/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are ...
02/04/2026
ESPN's MegaCast Coverage of 2026 NCAA Women's Final Four Begins Friday, ...
02/04/2026
DAZN has announced the launch of DAZN Playmakers, a global influencer program designed to build a network of sports content creators. The programme will give cr...
02/04/2026
Tony Cole, Jessica Lee shift into new roles reporting to ESPN SVP/Content Operations Chris Calcinari....
02/04/2026
Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...
02/04/2026
Real-time tracking, virtual production, and Pixar storytelling converge for Apri...
02/04/2026
NASA's long-awaited Artemis II mission has launched four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the moon, marking the first manned launch toward the moon sin...
02/04/2026
(L-R) Molly Belle Wright, Wyatt Solis, and John Magaro appear in Omaha by Cole Webley, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo courte...
02/04/2026
4 - 11 April 2026
VEMIA's latest gear auction is just around the corner, and there's already a wealth of sought-after instruments and studio gear li...
02/04/2026
Little Labs emulation now available to all
The latest Universal Audio plug-in to become available outside of the company's DSP-powered UAD2 platform has...
02/04/2026
SBS Welcomes Back Cup Fever! For The Biggest FIFA World Cup Ever
2 April, 2026
Media releases
Santo Cilauro, Ed Kavalee and a host of special guests retur...
02/04/2026
Truth. Power. Perspective: NITV's Flagship Current Affairs Programs Return t...
02/04/2026
L3Harris has successfully powered the historic launch of the Artemis II mission, providing propulsion and avionics....
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Already deployed extensively by NBC Sports, FOR-A Corporation will demonstrate GoVertical! AiDi, the real-time 9:16 autocropping feature of viztrick AiDi, durin...
02/04/2026
Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its B...
02/04/2026
Harmonic's Media Processing Solutions Maximize Bandwidth Efficiency for Terrestrial Broadcast Delivery
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that TDF, a...
02/04/2026
NBC Sports Deploys viztrick AiDi to Stream Live Events in 9:16 Mobile-First Formats with Auto Tracking, Development Signals Strategic Shift for FOR-A
Long reco...
02/04/2026
Evergent will showcase new innovations in subscriber lifecycle management and monetization at NAB Show 2026 (Las Vegas, April 18 22), including:
New advances i...
02/04/2026
Riedel Communications is proud to be part of Binghamton University, State University of New York, Athletics' milestone year, celebrating the university'...
02/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have today announced new, fully managed, cloud-native Master Control services designed to meet the growing operational demand...