Light & Shadow Event to Feature Top LDs and Creatives

Leading creatives and lighting practitioners including Mikki Kunttu, LeRoy Bennett, Christopher Bauder, Ola Melzig, and Ralph-Jörg Wezorke are set to speak at Music x Media: Light & Shadow Seminar, taking place on September 28 at Tampere Hall, in Tampere, Finland.

The event forms part of celebrations around the 30-year career and 50th birthday of lighting designer Mikki Kunttu whose resume includes work for Cirque du Soleil, Nightwish, Apocalyptica, Boston Ballet, Tero Saarinen, and the Finnish National Opera.

Running from 9am-6pm, Light & Shadow welcomes professionals and students alike to gain insight into the artistic processes of top professionals. The day will be hosted by Ola Melzig, as Kunttu explains: "There are very few technical producers around the world with such a mind-blowing resume. Ola is well connected and a well-known figure throughout the industry after 15 years of working as a head of production for the Eurovision Song Contest in various European countries. Ola's latest masterwork was taking the world by a storm with American Song Contest.

Kunttu and Melzig will be joined by keynote speakers including LeRoy Bennett (Paul McCartney, Prince, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rammstein, and The Weeknd); Christopher Bauder (WHITEvoid, Dark Matter Berlin) and Lightpower founder, Ralph-Jörg Wezorke.

Founder of Seven Design works, Bennett regularly delivers unforgettable moments for live concert tours, Super Bowl half-time performances, stadium shows, and special events for film and TV. "It is such an honor for us to have LeRoy Bennett as the keynote speaker," says Kunttu. "As CEO and creative director of Seven Design Works, he is known throughout the entertainment industry as one of the most iconic innovators in cutting-edge production, lighting, and stage design worldwide."

He continues: "Christopher Bauder is another great addition to our spectacular line up of keynotes. Christopher started creating large-scale spatial art installations and lighting design after finishing his studies in the Digital Media Class at the Berlin University of the Arts. His projects focus on the translation of bits and bytes into objects and environments and vice-versa. Space, object, sound, light, and interaction are the key elements of his work."

In 2004, Bauder founded the multidisciplinary art and design studio WHITEvoid to realize his large-scale art and design work. The studio comprises specialists in interaction design, media design, product design, interior architecture, and electronic engineering. In 2013, Bauder also founded Kinetic Lights specializing in engineering and manufacturing professional kinetic lighting equipment. He is perhaps best known for his city-wide light art installation Lichtgrenze, created in 2014 together with his brother Marc, for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Completing the line-up is Lightpower founder, Ralph-Jörg Wezorke who will guide the audience on a journey behind the scenes of some of the world's largest spectacles. "Mr. Wezorke has had a ringside seat to the lighting industry since 1970s," says Kunttu. "We'll explore what the most remarkable and industry-changing moments have been over these decades and discuss what the future looks like in the post-pandemic world."

Looking forward to uniting lighting practitioners, promoters, artistic directors, producers, creatives and students at this international event, Kunttu concludes: "Light & Shadow aims to bring the speakers close to the audience; we want to talk about what we feel is most essential to the path we are on as designers and professionals. What it is to live the life of a designer and which events have had the biggest impact on us over the years. Sharing with the next generation is very important and that is exactly what this event is all about. See you soon beyond light and shadow."

The seminar's full schedule will be announced soon. Tickets to Light & Shadow can be purchased at a summer rate of 290 € (valid until August 31) from HERE.