Since years the ORF is famous for its live broadcasts of classical concerts, operas and operettas from various worldwide known open-air stages (Salzburg, Bregenz, Mörbisch) or concert halls (Salzburg, Vienna). Due to the popularity of these events througout Europe, the demand for DVDs and in the future also for high definition Blu-Rays and HD DVDs is obvious. Because of the cooperation of the ORF with DVD production companies an intensive post-production work has to be carried out before the DVD is released. This was one of the reasons why the ORF has decided to build a High Definition linear edit suite in its facilities in Vienna.

 Thomas Riedel, founder and Managing Director of Riedel Communications, carried the Olympic Torch during the ceremonial Olympic Torch Relay at this year's Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
 "This was probably the most emotional moment I've ever had in event productions," said Riedel shortly after the run.

The 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival kicked off in grand fashion on March 21st at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, where more than 900 honored guests from around the world enjoyed an exciting celebration of film under the glimmering Victoria Bay sky. World leading LED display solution provider Lighthouse had the honor of sponsoring the large display at the main venue during the opening ceremony, bringing celebrities closer than ever to adoring fans with an unforgettable audio-visual experience.

The BBC’s latest adventure into live natural history programming, Lambing Live, billed by some as ‘EweTube’ has been one of the surprise hits of the year so far, attracting more 2 million viewers in the UK on its opening night. The week-long show provided an insight into the biggest and busiest event in the farming calendar.

As part of the Abu Dhabi Festival 2010, Emirates Palace hosted the staging of the famous Opera “La Bohème” on the 25th and 26th of March. The act was brought to the stage by the Puccini Festival Company, which travelled from Italy to delight the Abu Dhabi public with their voices.

Themed as “Better City – Better Life" the Shanghai Expo 2010 recently started with a spectacular Opening Ceremony, produced by David Atkins Enterprises from Australia, for which a grandMA2 system was used for lighting control. Robert Dickinson and Ted Wells realised the lighting design for this huge event in Shanghai, China. Dickinson commented: “The grandMA2 did the most impossible project ever.”

The Fugard Theatre, with performances by the Isango Portobello theatre company recently opened in the District Six area in Cape Town, South Africa. The theatre has been named in honour of Athol Fugard - and it’s not often that a theatre is named after someone in its lifetime. The “Train Driver”, written and directed by Fugard, had its opening night at The Fugard on 24th March, and is being met by sell out houses and standing ovations.

Early in May 2010, Shanghai Expo officially declared open – using a sound-reinforcement and announcement installation based on the NEXUS and C.A.S. 300 systems by Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup. This compact system comprises static, wired subscriber units and wireless modules plus an integrated solid-state digital audio player with pre-recorded announcements. It has been installed in the Zhejiang Pavilion and is the first C.A.S. 300 installation in China. The setup serves as the public address, stage-management and central control system.

For the exclusive coverage of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, KM, the production company in charge of TV Festival de Cannes, placed once again its confidence in EVS Instant Tapeless Technology.

MultiTouch, Ltd., developer of the world’s first modular multi-touch LCD screen for large-scale displays, and Riolab, a leading interactive display production firm, have collaborated on the largest multitouch display ever produced for a World’s Fair. The Wall of Chile (Muro de Chile) for the Chilean Pavilion at the Expo 2010 Shanghai China features a 4-meter-long (13’) and 1.2-meter-high (4’) display wall that enables visitors to access more than six hours of high-definition video and thousands of photographs from historical archives, including satellite, natural, and terrestrial images that detail Chile’s culture and character. The wall will appear at the Chilean Pavilion through October 31, 2010.

AKG recently provided a complete set of microphones to support the Chelsea Academy, the recently opened secondary school in southwest London created to be an outstanding centre of education and creativity. Working with The Bryan Adams Foundation, AKG has donated a 6-piece drum microphone set and four C1000 S condenser mics to the Academy's Music Centre, which is designed to give students a thorough grounding in performance and recording techniques.

Opus Arte has chosen Arqiva to relay all its upcoming live feeds from the Royal Opera House to North America and Western and Eastern Europe reaching more than 300 “live-equipped” screens with opera and ballet titles – these include The Royal Opera’s Cosi fan tutte on Friday 10 September 2010 and Macbeth in June 2011 as well as The Royal Ballet’s Giselle on Wednesday 19 January 2011. Arqiva has been working closely with the Royal Opera House for many years to relay other live opera events such as the BP Summer Big Screens, an annual programme of live relays to sites throughout the UK.

Troya Eventos, a prominent audio production services provider in Mexico, recently deployed a complete JBL VERTEC® line array system to support Fenahuap, one of Mexico’s largest music festivals, in Ciudad Valles, Monterrey, Mexico. The 20-day event featured a multitude of performances from leading acts such as Juri, Aklex Syntec, Sasha, Sin Bandera and Pitbull, on stages throughout the event grounds.

Four years after its major success with Thor, The Royal Danish Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater) is presenting its fifth and biggest outdoor production so far, as Alexandre Dumas’ classic The Three Musketeers story is played out by more than 200 participating actors, singers, horses and stuntmen — to loud pyro accompaniment. The event is taking place in Ulvedalene, Dyrehaven, a public deer forest north of Copenhagen, situated next to a famous 1000-year-old oak tree.

What started with a major Opening Ceremony has also proved to be a huge success for grandMA – the 2010 Shanghai Expo.