The Esplanade Theatre - Singapore's premier performing arts venue - has just taken delivery of two new Avolites Pearl Expert consoles.

These were specified by Milton Arnold, the theatre's Lighting Technical Manager, and will be used extensively around the Esplanade's various venues, which include the flagship Concert Hall, the 1900 seater Theatre, the smaller Recital and Theatre Studios, the outdoor Powerhouse stage and a New Outdoor Theatre which is currently being built and will open in August. There is also a lighting rig in the main entrance hall, to serve its Concourse Stage, so there's a large requirement for mobile kit.

Total Solutions Pte Ltd, Avolites' Singapore distributor, and Milton's "Favourite supplier in town", supplied the consoles. They arrived just in time for the 2008 Mosaic Music Festival, where they were deployed at the Nokia Powerhouse outdoor stage and in the Theatre Studio, which became the Heineken Club for the duration of the Festival.

Arnold considered the options very carefully before committing to the purchase, and consulted with UK-based lighting designer Nick Jevons, who has lit the Concert Hall venue stage for the 2007 and 2008 Mosaic Music Festivals, using an Avo Diamond 4 console for control.

Jevons' company Electric Fly Productions also owns a Pearl Expert, so he recommended it highly for flexibility, power and ease of use.

"Avolites also has a very strong presence in Singapore", adds Arnold "So many of the operators are familiar with the Pearl, including my staff in the lighting department, and our regular freelancers - so that was another solid reason for going with Avo".

Senior Lighting Technician Christopher Das ran the Pearl Expert at the Nokia Powerhouse outdoor stage for the 2008 Mosaic Music Festival. He's used Pearls since 2000 and finds the Expert a big step forward. "It offers a massive amount of control" he says "One of the best things is being able to run moving lights and generics separately off the two rollers".

Das also likes the innate user-friendliness of the Pearl "Within an hour of using it you will be able to control lights with it" he confirms.

His lighting rig on the Nokia Powerhouse Stage featured 6 High End Systems X-Spots, 8 Studio Beams, and 6 Studio Color moving lights, 24 PARs and 4 ground-rows for the backdrop.

The Esplanade's other new Expert, was used in the Theatre Studio, and operated by Haizad bin Johari. It ran lighting for the stage show, and the room's "club atmosphere", with X-Spots, Studio Beams, and Studio Spot, moving lights, plus a large conventional rig, including many colour scrollers. This space served as the Heineken dance club, in the evenings, becoming the Festival's jam session venue, after-hours.