Russia’s only international music-trade exhibition featured more than 160 extensive business and public events programs that were highly received at NAMM Musikmesse Russia 2015 and Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia 2015.
Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center, in one of the oldest Moscow parks, saw a 12 percent jump in trade show attendees this year over last. Fourteen thousand, eight hundred and fifty-seven people came together to experience the latest in musical instruments and technology in the music products industry, September 10-13, 2015. The varied event program, organized by the Messe Frankfurt, NAMM, and their partners, played a big part in attracting record numbers of musicians, business owners, students and educators.
At Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia 2015, a wide assortment of light, sound and video equipment was presented by such companies as Bose, Martin Professional, Sennheiser Audio Russia, Slami, Show Atelier, SiM, MuzTorg, OKNO-Audio, MS-Max, LTM, Sofit Light, Asia Music, Stagemarket, Robe, Clay Paky, OSRAM, Syntez-Audio, MixArt, AV Stumpfl, ChainMaster, INBACK, 2M (Deutschland), Robert Bosch, Audio Solutions, SERAPID, König & Meyer, KIOR Theatre Systems, Aris, Doka Centre, Svetogor Pro, Sonoruss, and many others leading companies.
The pavilions of NAMM Musikmesse Russia were dedicated to electric guitars, drum sets, and many other electric music instruments represented by Roland Music, Grand Mistery Olympus, Artimusic, Muzimport, Music Space, Convent Centre, PedalZoo, Shamray Guitars, and Astell&Kern. The halls were also complemented by acoustic instruments by Coda Music, Kawai Piano, Steinway & Sons, Resonance Harps, Forte and Piano, Aileen music, BAM, Chevalets Despiau and Ditta Cirillo Antonio in “Pavilion Classique.”
“We saw a very good mix of professionals, musicians, teachers and dealers, a very well informed audience. Lots of known contacts came to visit us, but also some promising new ones,” said Wolfgang Weiss, chief administrative officer for Thomastik-Infeld headquartered in Austria. “It is important for a brand like ours to keep flying the flag, so coming back to the show was absolutely the right decision.”
A long list of state and other organizations were official supporters of the fairs: the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Moscow Department of Culture, the Culture Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, The Moscow Conservatory, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Russian Guild of Theatre Managers, the Russian Union of Theatre Workers, the Russian state musical TV center “Orpheus,” the Association of Musical Theatres, Institute of Educational Development of Culture and Art, and Music Theatres Association of Russia.
The Moscow Department of Culture’s program “Art School” also took place at NAMM Musikmesse 2015. It consisted of two events. The first was “Forum Art Education,” which was dedicated to arts education and the professional development of music and art teachers. The second event included an interactive “Park of Musical Instruments,” where thousands of attendees were given free lessons by qualified music teachers on instruments including the violin, drums, domra and harp.
For the first time in Russia, NAMM Musikmesse Russia 2015 hosted “Bonzo Bash Russia” – a world-known drummer festival created as a tribute to Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Henry “Bonzo” Bonham. The show brought together fifteen of the best Russian rock and roll drummers, special guest drummers, and five newcomers. Bonzo Bash Russia was led by American drummer Brian Tichy (Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Ozzy Osbourne, Glenn Hughes), and also offered master classes and workshops with famous Russian and international drummers.
In addition to those already mentioned, NAMM Musikmesse Russia 2015 hosted the following events:
1) COLISIUM – International Music Convention
2) Educational sessions from NAMM University tailor-made for Russian retailers.
3) A Pedagogical Festival of modern music technologies.
4) Dozens of master classes by professional musicians and musical business experts.
5) Classical and acoustic performances by teachers and students from the Moscow Conservatory, cello virtuoso’s George Gusev’s Cello Drive project, kid’s festival “Viva Music!” by Asia music company and many others on the Acoustic Stage, located inside the Pavilion Classique.
6) Festivals, competitions, shows and performances of famous musicians, including guitar festival Guitar Player Party and Metallica Tribute featuring a full sized symphony orchestra.
7) The best of contemporary electronic music played by renowned DJs and music labels on a special stage presented by the Moscow radio station Megapolis.
Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia also hosted a number of landmark events. The Onstage Forum, dedicated to showcasing event organization and technical features of domestic and international productions, saw over 500 companies take part. New trends and perspectives of stage design development, a look into operation of rental companies, and a technical production in Russia and in the world were also part of the Forum. In addition, the visitors and participants of the Forum enjoyed a memorable light and music show “Onstage Light & Sound”, organized by Euroshow.
Another key event in the framework of Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia 2015 was a special project of the show – the second Theatre Forum. In addition to a specialized exposition, an intensive and varied business program was organized including master classes, round tables, seminars, and workshops. Directors, technical directors, managers of theaters, and cultural and art institutions took part in the program. All the events were organized or supported by specialists and industry experts from theaters, art centers, relevant associations, and professional organizations including managers of Bolshoi Theatre, members of the Russian Guild of Theatre Managers, and the Russian Union of Theatre Workers. A technical tour to scenery workshops and the warehouse complex of the Bolshoi Theatre was a nice bonus for professional visitors.
Also found at this year’s shows – Rental Companies Forum organized by the Association of Rental Companies for CEOs and employees of rental companies and event agencies; Lighting artists’ competition by Martin Pro; Master classes about concert sound, psychoacoustics and mixing organized by sound-engineering school “Gramotniy Zvuk”. Line arrays and concert sound systems were also presented for the visitors of Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia 2015.
NAMM Musikmesse Russia and Prolight + Sound NAMM Russia will continue to make a serious contribution to the development of music, audio, light, stage and show-technologies industries in Russia at next year’s event held September 15-18, 2016 at Moscow’s Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center.
For more information about the shows, please visit the official fair websites: www.namm-musikmesse.ru and www.prolight-namm.ru.
