In 2006 Egyptian telecom company Orascom marked their 50 millionth subscriber with a celebration at the Pyramids in Giza, the guests were housed in a large tent overlooking the site and were entertained by an international cabaret headlined by the Pussy Cat Dolls. Italian production company K events were originally tasked to provide a light and fireworks extravaganza as a highlight to the evening but a combination of a very short lead up time and delays in the granting of the necessary permissions saw the firework element removed and British lighting designer Durham Marenghi was appointed as Art Director for the event.
Durham required dramatic floodlighting of the central pyramid and powerful aerial effects so he approached Jack Calmes at Syncrolite in the USA and sixteen of the then brand new 10kw Dichroic searchlights alongside twelve 8kw units were flown in from Dallas. The 10kw Syncrolites were placed behind the central Pyramid. The 8kw units with their standard gel scrolls and gobo effects were placed in front of the Pyramid and further floodlighting of the side Pyramids by Griven Colorados was supplied by local contractor ProLite under the direction of Lighting Designer Baher George.
Associate lighting designers for the event were Nick Jones and Eneas Mackintosh who both supported Durham at the Winter Olympics in Turin and the Syncrolites were operated by Mike Ansley and Jeffery Smith. The music content was designed by Giacomo Carrissimi for K events and the Executive Producers were Christel Strohn and Simone Merico. Production Managers were Fabio Andreini and Jaqueline Marrone and the Syncrolite equipment was installed by Mike Ansley and programmed by Jeffery Smith.
Photo credits
Photos by Nick Jones courtesy of K-Events
