Helena Pygrum appointed Director, Labor Resources, Live Productions Division

In 2021, Helena joined Solotech and since then, she has managed the recruitment and placement of our growing production personnel. With her passion and outstanding know-how, she has built an in-house labor department at Solotech for touring resources.

Helena has over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry in various leadership roles. She worked in labor management, corporate event logistics and concert event production, including for well-known touring and audiovisual companies. Helena is respected as a leader and advocate of work-life balance for touring crews. In her new role, she will continue these efforts and spearhead new initiatives to benefit Solotech’s touring teams.

This promotion underlines her hard work towards the continued growth in the global market of live productions.

The entire Solotech team wishes Helena great success in her new role.

Contact

media@solotech.com

AV Mag recognition

Solotech’s amazing work on ABBA Voyage receives honors

On November 7, 2022, Solotech garnered the award in the Events and Entertainment Project of the Year category for its work on the breathtaking ABBA Voyage experience. Each year, AV Magazine holds its AV Awards gala to honour and celebrate excellence in the pro AV sector in the past year.

The AV Awards stand out because they’re independently judged by a panel of senior representatives from end-user organizations, consultants, and key industry players.

Read the full article here

Contact

Héloïse Meunier
Corporate Communications Advisor
media@solotech.com

Life is Beautiful’s 150,000 festival-goers were treated to a unique sound system on two major stages : Downtown and Bacardi. Both stages were equipped by Meyer Sound, supported by Solotech.

The centerpiece of the Downtown stage? Meyer Sound’s PANTHER system. While not the largest system assembled, it was able to deliver unparalleled sound to accompany each star: Calvin Harris, Gorillaz, Artic Monkey and Jack Harlow.

The system’s main arrays included 16 PANTHER line array speakers per side, accompanied on each side by eight LYON line array speakers. Deep bass was carried by arrays of six 1100-LFCs per side, with the same number of floorstanders.

Audio Project Manager for Solotech US, Jim Yakabusk, said, “We all recognized that Meyer Sound’s close relationship with Life is Beautiful provided a perfect opportunity to introduce the new PANTHER system to FOH engineers, touring production managers and music fans.”

For the Bacardi stage, which featured Kygo, Shaggy, Beach House and Dermot Kennedy, the main speakers were LEO and LYON. They were backed up on the sides by systems that included MICA speakers as well as MSL-4 and CQ-2 point source speakers. The front fills were also made of MICA speakers, with 1100-LFC elements for low frequency air and ground support.

Read the full TPI article here: Meyer Sound rocks Life is Beautiful Festival — TPi (tpimagazine.com)

Source: News. (October 2022) MEYER SOUND ROCKS LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL FESTIVAL. TPI.

Contact

Héloïse Meunier
Corporate Communications Advisor
media@solotech.com

United Kingdom, October 25th, 2022 – Solotech, a leader in audiovisual and entertainment technology, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Probyn as Head of Business Development in Europe for the Live Productions Division.

This new position is an important milestone towards continued growth in the global market of live productions. Probyn will be responsible for the business development of the company’s touring activities in Europe. He will be cultivating new relationships while continuing to provide expert service to Solotech’s customer base.

With almost 20 years’ experience in leadership positions at Live Nation Music UK, Probyn has earned a strong reputation in the audiovisual and entertainment technology industry. John started his career in live music in the late 80’s and was responsible for creating and producing the ‘Party in the Park’ series of sponsored music events for several radio stations throughout the country. In 1997, he started his own consultancy company offering health and safety planning and management that brought him to a diverse range of music and sporting events throughout the world.

In 2001, he joined Clear Channel Entertainment (now Live Nation Entertainment) in the UK as Operations Director and worked his way up to Chief Operating Officer to deliver thousands of touring shows, stadium concerts for the likes of U2, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bon Jovi. Also creating and bringing to life festivals such as Download, Wireless and Hard Rock Calling and special events including Live 8, Live Earth, The Concert for Diana, Nelson Mandela’s 90th Birthday concert and the London 2012 Olympic live sites. In 2015, John stepped down from his COO role to spend more time with his family but soon found he missed the challenge and joined Festival Republic in 2017 working for Melvin Benn on a wide range of festivals and projects.

“With an outstanding track record in music festival, touring and events, Probyn will be an amazing addition to our team. He has such a broad live production background and vast experience, he will undoubtedly play a crucial role in supporting Solotech’s continued growth in Europe,” states Mickey Curbishley, President, Live Productions, US, UK, Solotech.

“I’ve worked with Solotech UK brands Capital Sound, Wigwam and SSE Audio for many years and they have always been an important part of what I have achieved. Their global vision for the future in terms of growth and development excites me and I relish the challenge of helping them to achieve their ambitions,” adds Probyn.

The entire Solotech team welcomes John and wishes him great success in his new role.

Contact

media@solotech.com 

Returning from a successful month-long UK tour, Michael Bublé is back on the road in North America, with shows planned all over the United States and Canada until the end of October.  

And where the Canadian singer goes, we go! Indeed, 2022 marks the 15th anniversary of Solotech’s collaboration with Michael Bublé, and we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of his team! 

Directly following the An Evening with Michael Bublé tour, the Higher tour is continuously innovating. It’s the first tour to take the brand-new Meyer Sound PANTHER large-scale line array system on the road west of the Atlantic.  

Launched at the end of 2021, Meyer Sound’s new flagship loudspeaker is designed to be powerful while being compact, lightweight, and energy efficient.  

Our video gear includes SACO/Solotech LED modules, Grass Valley cameras, and switchers. 

To learn more about technical details and Solotech’s involvement in An Evening with Michael Bublé, click here.  

See the upcoming Higher tour dates here.  

Solotech contributed to the production of ABBA Voyage by bringing its comprehensive audiovisual expertise.

The show launched on May 26 in an arena built at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and brought the legendary ’70s artists to life on stage in a seamless blend of the virtual and physical worlds. It adds a new dimension to the live music experience by creating a blur between computer-generated imagery (CGI) and the reality that can only be experienced in person to be fully understood.

Solotech was chosen to help ABBA’S production team achieve a special project as they’ve spent two years working on it. They worked together from the concept to installation to opening night to deliver the most spectacular experience.

In addition to their expertise, Solotech provided audio, lighting, and video equipment from leading manufacturers such as ROE, VYV, Robe, and L-Acoustics. This project included one of the largest ROE Black Pearl v2 LED screen installations, at 19 tiles high, driven by Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors.

Read the full article here

Source:  Editorial Content, “Events Back to the Future”, Business Magazine Info (2022, September 1st)

See the video here:

Contact

Héloïse Meunier
Corporate Communications Advisor
media@solotech.com 

The global leader in audiovisual and entertainment technology gets its groove back with a red hot summer season that had performers and fans flocking to over 280 festival sites all over the world.

Montreal, September 8, 2022 – “We are pleased to announce that 2022 was a record-breaking international festival and music season for Solotech, representing an increase of over 20% in AV activities provided by our Live Productions teams”, says Martin Tremblay, President and CEO, Solotech. As the world emerges from the Covid cocoon, or learns to maneuver around it, festivals everywhere made a spirited comeback this year.

Solotech’s Live Productions Division increase surpasses even pre-pandemic levels, a clear sign of organizers, artists and festival devotees’ eagerness for the return of this summer staple. Chances are if you attended a popular festival this summer, Solotech was also there. These included headliner Harry Styles’ epic shows at Coachella, the iconic International Montreal Jazz Festival, the 15th anniversary of Osheaga, the Festival d’été de Québec and the multi-disciplinary artistic works of the Luminato Festival Toronto. The celebrations continued as electronic music took centre stage at Veld Music Festival, while popular headliners and rising stars collided over several weekends at the UK’s BST Hyde Park festival.

An innovative and powerhouse partner, Solotech is a full-service provider of customized integrated AV and technological solutions for live performances. Every festivalgoer wants to experience those ‘WOW’ moments and nothing helps make that happen more than a captivating light show and flawless acoustics to complement spellbinding stage designs.

So far in 2022, over 280 festivals around the world have been supported by Solotech’s dedicated teams and cutting-edge equipment. And with this season running well into September, this total will only increase. Upcoming major productions in Toronto include the hip-hop-centric Rolling Loud music festival and in Las Vegas, the Life is Beautiful Festival, to name a few.

“After the 2-year break in Canada, it was only natural that many festivals wanted to go bigger and bolder. I couldn’t be more pleased, or prouder, of the increased volume of projects Solotech teams have successfully delivered across the country in collaboration with our partners,” said Martin Chouinard, President, Live Productions Canada and Global Operations, Solotech.

Expansion in a new world setting

While it seemed like ‘business as usual’ was on pause during the pandemic, nothing could be further from the truth at Solotech offices throughout the globe. During the pandemic, new opportunities were seized, services were broadened, and activities diversified. It allowed Solotech to strategically pivot through unchartered territory but also take transformative steps towards growth. In 2022, the global leader in AV opened massive new facilities in Las Vegas and Nashville, both internationally renowned cities and major hubs for live entertainment. These structures house an enormous inventory of all things AV as well as on-site rehearsal and stage setups.

In the UK, new leadership will navigate Solotech’s current leading position in the audio field to new levels as a full-service AV provider. Five established warehouses in Manchester, Redditch, Hemel Hempstead, London and Southampton as well as expanded video development and live production departments will sync up to align with Solotech’s overall business model.

Mickey Curbishley, President, Live Productions, US, UK mentions, “Summer festivals are at the heart of the European music scene and for the first time this year, we added video solutions at BST in Hyde Park. Our UK Live Productions Division is building on the reputation and legacy established by powerhouses SSE Audio, Wigwam, Capital Sound and BCS audio, and in doing so, seeking real integrated growth opportunities.”

From annual festivals to months-long concert tours, to permanent installations, anywhere music and culture collide, Solotech is the go-to partner for live productions from opening to closing night.

Visit Solotech.com to find out more about the multitude of customized technological services and solutions available.

Contact

media@solotech.com 

Production and Lighting Designer Chris Denholm of Partner Production Services was commissioned to create a nature inspired look for Third Eye Blind’s Summer Gods tour: 25 years in the Blind. Denholm approached Gallagher Staging and Productions in Nashville to help source twigs.

James McKinney from Gallagher reached out to a company where they could source straight birch poles, forked alder limbs, and birch twigs. They experimented with various combinations of different-sized limbs to get the band’s desired look and feel. Denholm’s experience as a project manager led him to ensure that his design would meet the production’s needs. “Dreams have to meet reality…” he noted. Denholm, therefore, turned to Solotech for our prefabricated pod structures to complete the band’s specified look.

The resulting show centerpiece was a set with tall rectangular panels and risers, outfitted with 300 straight birch limbs, 200 forked alder limbs, and 150 multibranched birch twigs.

Solotech and Gallagher coordinated efforts with Production Manager Kyle Wood to take Denholm’s design from the page to the stage.

Read the full PLSN article here

Source: Moen, D. (September 2022) Third Eye Blind Summer Gods Tour 2022. Designer Insights. PLSN.

Contact

Héloïse Meunier
Corporate Communications Advisor
media@solotech.com 

Nashville, September 1, 2022 – Solotech is proud to announce the appointment of Lee Moro as Senior Vice-President, Business Development, John Flynn as Vice-President, Operations, and Jim Yakabuski as Director of Audio Projects, of the Live Productions Division (US), effective September 1, 2022.

“ The last few months have been marked by a period of intense growth and revitalization for the US Live Productions operations,” said Mickey Curbishley, President, Live Productions, US, UK, Solotech. “Not only have we invested and moved into brand-new state-of-the-art facilities in Nashville and Las Vegas, but we also have managed to successfully develop our business in collaboration with our amazingly talented people. The new leadership structure is positioning us for the next step of our growth.”

After nearly a decade at Solotech, added to over 25 years in the industry, Lee Moro is renowned as a seasoned expert in managing large-scale tours. His leadership skills, knowledge of the market and his ability to develop long-lasting client relationships will strongly contribute to developing ongoing business and benefit the Live Productions’ Division growth going forward.

At Solotech since 2019, John Flynn has demonstrated strong expertise in managing production teams and working directly with many major clients. By cumulating over 25 years of experience in world show touring, he will bring his profound knowledge to Solotech’s operations to better support and propel several projects across the country.

Since his arrival at Solotech over a year ago, Jim Yakabuski has successfully supported both US and UK client-facing and technical audio projects. In his new business development role, his audio expertise will allow him to further develop relationships and additional initiatives with Solotech clients.

The entire Solotech team wishes them great success in their new role.

Contact

media@solotech.com

The long-awaited 42nd edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal made a big splash in the heart of the city and in the hearts of festivalgoers. Over 10 days of music, 350 concerts were held, hence the FIJM’s title as the largest jazz festival in the world!   

For the occasion, Solotech equipped eight indoor and outdoor stages, including the main stage, the TD stage. For the reinforcement system, Meyer Sound was also used for the back-up system.   

A wide variety of people (enthusiasts, fans and the curious) enjoyed a high-performance sound system even though the location wasn’t ideally suited for a festival. The challenge was to design the sound coverage without it invading the downtown area. To this end, Meyer Sound’s MAPP 30 software proved to be an indispensable tool.   

For its part, the TD Stage audio consisted of main front arrays of nine LEO® linear speakers per side, with focused bass from endfire arrays of six 1100-LFC™ low-frequency control elements per side. The front fills were MICA line array speakers, with MSL-4 speakers as the outer fills.   

Overall, it was a return to form for the Festival international de jazz de Montréal, which promise nothing but high notes for future editions.

Read the full article here 

Source: Eagleson J., (2022, 10th august). Meyer Sound and Solotech Boost Rebounding Montréal International Jazz Festival Meyer Sound 

Contact 

Héloïse Meunier 

Corporate Communications Advisor 

media@solotech.com