In her young spectacular career, multi-Grammy nominee
Sara Bareilles has already worked with an impressive array of superstars,
collaborating with the likes of Ahmir \”Questlove\” Thompson and
Pharrell Williams, and opening for Maroon 5 and Counting Crows. This summer
Bareilles harmonized on stage before a national TV audience with another new
star that’s been garnering a great deal of attention lately, the Nexus 4×4 COB
LED panel from CHAUVET Professional.
LD Peter Greenbaum (Illumination By Design, NY), the
lighting director for the Today Show, used 12 Nexus 4×4 panels to accent
Bareilles’ dynamic Toyota Concert Series performance on the popular morning
program. Greenbaum lined the upstage area behind the platinum-selling
recording star’s piano with two banks of three Nexus panels to create a focal
point behind her as she performed. He also lined two upright truss supports
with the three Nexus units to frame the stage.
“As a set element, the Nexus panels look great on stage
and highlight the area we want to focus on,” said Greenbaum. “We’ve been using
them consistently throughout our summer concerts, and they’re excellent for the
camera. We offer the producers a choice of four different packages. I
worked with Drew DeCorleto from WorldStage to put together each package, and
the Nexus is in most of them. ”
Since the Toyota Concert Series is held outdoors at the
TODAY plaza in Rockefeller Center between 48th and 49th Streets, any fixture
used on the set must be able to stand out against ambient light, even on the
brightest mornings. In this respect, said Greenbaum, the Nexus panels performed
superbly; their intense output made them readily visible to the live audience
and TV viewers on the sunny summer’s day when Bareilles performed.
Greenbaum used the panels as bright white set pieces. He
also relied on them to help fill in sections of the stage with a variety of
vivid colors. “We can create a bunch of varied looks with the Nexus,” he said.
“My programmers Brian Davis and Mike Gugliotti love to work with them.When we
did the Fall Out Boy concert for the Today Show, all we had was Nexus
panels. I love the way they look as a design feature. The Nexus is a
great tool for creating scenes on the stage for the camera, which really
creates magic when you have an inspired performance from an artist like
Sara Bareilles.”
