Nantong Grand Theatre is a new cultural and arts centre in Nantong city centre, in China’s Jiangsu Province. It is the last masterpiece to be designed by the late master architect Paul Andreu, whose other designs include the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Grand Arche at La Défense in Paris. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, the complex houses five performances spaces: the 1,532-seat Opera Hall, the 1,185-seat Concert Hall, a 599-capacity Drama Hall, a 250-seat Children’s Theatre and a multipurpose Function Hall.
Six Robert Juliat followspots were supplied by Hangzhou YiDaShi Technology Development and installed in the two largest venues. Four Aramis 2500W HMI followspots were delivered to the Opera House and two 1800W HMI Victor followspots to the Concert Hall.
The theatre owner, Nantong Culture & Sports Exhibition Management, specified the Robert Juliat followspots for the venue because they believe “RJ’s followspots are of the highest quality and the easiest followspots to operate in the world”.
The Aramis and Victor units are installed in the main front-of-house followspot boxes with a throw distance of approximately 50m to the stage – a distance perfectly suited to their 4.5-8° and 7-14.5° zoom ranges respectively. Here they will be used for the venues’ eclectic programme of dance, musicals and opera.
Nantong Grand Theatre’s head of lighting, Wang Chenyu, is happy with the new purchases, saying: “The beam quality for both Aramis and Victor is excellent – very bright and even.”
His show team also enjoy using them for their ergonomic qualities. “Both the Aramis and the Victor are very easy to control,” said followspot operator Li Hao.
Robert Juliat is distributed exclusively in China by Hangzhou YiDaShi Technology Development/Ekolight.
