The Ryman Auditorium stage served as the site for the Americana Honors and Awards Show at the 17th annual Americana Music Festival & Conference. Lighting designer Robert Peterson employed Chauvet Professional COLORado fixtures for the event.
Peterson, who has been lighting the Americana Music event for client High Five Entertainment since 2012, used a collection of various Chauvet COLORado Battens and COLORado Pars (36 fixtures in all) to create a background at the ceremony, which featured performances by George Strait, Steve Earle, Jason Isbell, Alison Krauss, and other artists.
“This event is really a celebration, and we wanted to reflect that by embracing the Ryman history and wrapping it in a warm, comfortable glow,” said Peterson. “The rich colors that the COLORado fixtures gave us certainly contributed to this look. They created a sense of visual emotion for the audience, both live and on television.”
Color changes from the COLORado fixtures also helped make the transitions on stage during the event go smoothly. “We had 21 songs from different artists, which meant we had a lot to do in a little time, really hard to do when we were so impressed with the music, we just wanted to stop and listen,” said Peterson. “The smooth color changes from the COLORados were very useful for Ken Hudson while he programmed in allowing smooth transitions on stage as we moved from one act to the other with subtly changed moods.”
Peterson used the COLORado Battens in the Ryman rig to under light drapery panels and scenic pieces. The house pars were used to provide raking uplight. “The battens and pars both gave us good coverage and a nice range of color,” he said. “There’s obviously a tremendous amount of history and great memories on that stage. We wanted our lighting to do that history justice.”
