String Ensemble Recital

Lighting Designers: Abbagail Welch, Sonnie Berkowitz, and Nia Webber

For this project, the professor had the class sign up for a concert at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and design the lighting for that show.

Inspiration:

The concert seemed classical, and the venue had only a few lighting instruments. I quickly simplified my concepts by 20%. But there were three things I could control during this design process: color, shape, and shadowing. I had a warmer, orangish-red woody tone in mind for how I wanted the stage washed. So, coming in and having the light board already set to that hue was another thing that made my job easier. I made it a little redder to put my own spin on the lights. I also wanted to create a bubble effect by fading the lights out around the stage. I wanted the audience to be drawn into the music through the lighting, with the edges dark. So, it could have felt more intimate and attention-grabbing. From past classical concerts, I have a sense of the magic and intensity of the musicians, so I wanted to capture that bubble feel with orangish-red tones. This could help brighten the wood, since it was a string ensemble, while still keeping the musicians’ skin tone healthy.