Metropolitan Opera Takes Delivery of Robert Juliat Victor Followspots

The Metropolitan Opera at New York City's Lincoln Center has expanded its lighting inventory with the acquisition of four Robert Juliat Victor 1,800W followspots, as specified by Patrick Eagleton, of Contemporary Lights & Staging, Stamford, Connecticut.

"The Met is all about quality and very particular about the products they buy, and the Robert Juliat name speaks for itself in that regard," says Fred Lindauer, of Robert Juliat. "The Met already has a number of RJ 2.5W Profiles in their inventory so they were very willing to consider Robert Juliat followspots for this new application."

They followspots had to be portable, easy to set up, and fit in the space reserved for them. In addition, they had to be very quiet since they would be located in the audience seating area. "After on-site tests the team at the Met loved the fact that the Victors operated silently and could be moved in and out of the theatre with ease," Lindauer says. "The changeovers have been perfect. The Victors are durable fixtures so they can withstand being moved in and out on a regular basis without any problems."

"The Robert Juliat name may have gotten us in the door at The Met, but it was the unique properties and craftsmanship of the Victors that sealed the deal," says Lindauer.

Robert Juliat's Victor followspot features a high-performance double condenser optical system, flicker-free electronic ballast, 100 percent closing iris in a removable cassette, 100 percent closing mechanical dimmer and 'A' size gobo holder. Victor boasts a six-way color changer system with removable filter frames as standard. The Met elected the optional push--pull color changer since it is silent operating. Victor also comes standard with frost and IR filter frames.