On 10 Dec 2010, M&M Production Management once again rubbed elbows with royalty at one of the highest profile events in the world – The Nobel Prize Banquet. Held since 1934 in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall annually on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the banquet follows the esteemed Nobel Prize Awards.  The event is attended by the King and Queen of Sweden, and the other members of the Royal Family, plus approximately 1300 guests, including Nobel Laureates, politicians, dignitaries and other VIPs, as well as seen by the viewing audience of a High Definition television broadcast by Swedish Television (SVT).

Lighting Designer Per Sundin of Stockholm-based Sundin Designers AB has been in charge of lighting the event for the past 14 years since the time when he worked for SVT. Sundin and Production Manager Ola Melzig of M & M Production Management, have worked together on the event several times, so they know the building and set up routine well.

The positioning of the lighting set up itself does not change drastically from year to year, due to the limited number of places where fixtures can be hung. The 85-year-old Stockholm City Hall was not built with modern technology in mind (nor any rigging points), plus the Nobel Foundation has very strict regulations about unnecessary cabling and other elements that can make the Hall less aesthetically pleasing.

This was the first year for the Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1500 fixtures to make an appearance, and Sundin used them on an unexpected surface – the massive ceiling of the Blue Hall. In the past, video content has been projected onto the 40m×32m (131'×105') space, but this year, the Alpha Profile 1500 fixtures took the place of the projectors, sending gobo projections overhead from the convenient location of the 2nd floor balcony.

The original idea came by way of architect Ragnar Östberg while the building was being constructed between 1911 and 1923. He liked the way the water outside the building reflected up onto the ceiling through the high windows and decided to leave it plain white to capture that look. During the banquet, however, it is too dark outside to reflect anything, so Sundin’s design employs other means to retain that feel while also taking advantage of the largest blank canvas in the room. Melzig explained, “We used eight Alpha Profiles, which worked fantastic as they have incredible brightness and a good beam size.

In addition to the roof and back wall projections, the main lighting consisted of 12 Martin MAC III Spots hung from truss sections in two corners of the ceiling, with 6 Vari*Lite VL 3000 Spots and 6 VL 3500 Spots positioned on the upper ceiling rail. 14 MAC 250 Entour Standard fixtures were positioned on the third floor behind the 14 ornately sculptured windows.

Various key lighting and general atmosphere lighting around the Blue Hall was provided by ETC Source Fours with a variety of Pars, floods and floorcans for additional warmth. 23 SGM Riabaltas were mounted on brackets to light the pillars around the perimeter of the room. 14 Wybron Nexera fixtures were used as uplights to frame the massive etched glass doors leading to the Golden Hall on the second floor balcony.

Control came from an ETC Congo programmed by Emma Landare and the design was created in wysiwyg R25 by Sundin. He explained, “I stay in close contact with the wysiwyg Library team and they’re always one step ahead of me. This was the first year I used the Alpha Profile 1500 on this event and when I check to see if something is in the Library, it’s usually been there before the fixture was actually shipping. It’s very important to have this. There can sometimes be a last-minute change and if the personality isn’t there, it can cause delays.”

Photos courtesy of M & M Production Mgmt.