Helsinki theater brings light to performing arts with Martin

Lighting designer William Iles chose the luminaires Martin MAC Ultra and Encore for their light quality, its optimal color reproduction, energy efficiency and quiet operation.

He Helsinki municipal theater has enhanced its original productions while advancing in energy efficiency with a new team of martin lighting, company of Harman Group, composed of luminaires MAC Ultra Performance, MAC Ultra Wash y MAC Encore Performance.

Inaugurated in 1967, is a bilingual repertory theater company funded by the city council of the Finnish capital. Among its six active headquarters, Helsinki Municipal Theater produces a wide range of stage works each year. In 2023, decided to replace the outdated conventional lighting on the main stage with LED technology to save energy. After studying numerous suppliers and manufacturers, A complete team of Martin luminaires from the MAC Ultra and MAC Encore series was selected.

“We wanted to consume less energy and be more efficient”, affirms William Iles, Helsinki City Theater resident lighting designer. “We are consuming much less energy than with previous lights. We have not had any maintenance problems with the new Martin equipment. "I don't miss the old halogen and gas discharge lamps at all.".

To ensure high quality key lighting for the front of the room, Iles selected MAC Encore Performance luminaires for their ability to produce pristine full-spectrum light with ultra-high color rendering. The rack lighting system is made up entirely of MAC Ultra Performance and MAC Ultra Wash luminaires., chosen for their brightness and low noise levels.

“We use Encores for front lighting to provide quality white light, perfect for skin tones and color rendering when it comes to a person's face”, Iles explains.. “Ultra Wash and Performance are located upstage and behind as backlight. Ultra devices are very quiet. Previous equipment was so loud it sounded like being in a server room full of computers. Now, the actors and stage crew are surprised at how quiet it is. The truth is that it is very nice. Our sound designer was also very pleased with how quiet the MAC Ultra lights are.”.

It was essential that the new lighting equipment allowed Iles and his team to support a wide range of works and stage productions. The municipal theater's new Martin MAC Encore and MAC Ultra luminaires give you the confidence and tools necessary to offer an original lighting design for any production you organize..

“Every other night we have to change the show”, says Iles.. “The same lighting pattern has to work in all of them. We needed the luminaires to be versatile, and I am very satisfied with the Martin MAC Ultra and Encore that we acquired from the distributor StudioTec“.