During the pandemic, an elegant new load-bearing tensile fabric roof was installed – this was planned for some time – which facilitates production elements like lighting and sound as well as providing year-round weather protection. New Robe moving lights were purchased as part of a major upgrade to the house lighting system and a major investment by the municipality.

Križanke did have house lights previously, explained technical manager Adam Muzafirović, but not movers. If they wanted moving lights or other more complex technology for a specific show, this would be sourced via rental, and the with 4-month long 2022 summer season approaching, a decision was made to purchase rather than rent, both to cover this event and the venue’s ongoing technical requirements.

Robe’s Slovenian distributor MK Light Sound supplied 12 x BMFL Blades, 12 x Spiider LED wash beams and 6 of the larger Tarrantula LED wash beams, specified by the venue technical team after careful consideration.

“We needed to be rider friendly first and foremost,” Adam stated, and with a wide variety of incoming artists, companies and shows, he and his team wanted a brand acceptable to all.

Adam also likes Robe for its “power and reliability” and because he feels it is “definitely the best choice for concerts and theatre shows,” of which the venue hosts a wide variety, from rock and pop gigs to big bands to ballets, dance, and symphonic classical performances.

Shutters were important hence the choice of BMFL Blades, together with the colours across all the ranges, a point on which he remarks about the “impressive continuity”.

It is the first venue in the city to have Robe’s Tarrantula, and these were chosen because six fixtures are more than enough to wash the entire 24-metre-wide stage area with “a beautiful quality” of light and spectrum of colours from rich saturates to delicate pastels.

Adam has worked with Robe fixtures a lot, mainly through rentals at the venue, and the brand and product designs keep abreast of the constantly shifting requirements of designers and venues. “Even if Robe is not on a specific rider, people are always happy to accept them as an alternative,” he observes.

Adam lights some shows himself if they don’t have an LD, and before working at Križanke, he worked extensively in the theatre world.

A typical summer season will see 90 / 100 different productions pass through the venue, and the first one to use the new Robe lights was a performance by the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, and now everyone is looking forward to the vibrance and variety that this year’s shows will bring to the stage.

Lighting control is a grandMA3 compact.

Photo Credit: Louise Stickland