Martin Gear at Republic Palace Inauguration, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan marked its 20th year of independence on December 1st and President Nazarbayev chose the day to celebrate the inauguration of the fully renovated Republic Palace, the biggest concert hall in Almaty.

Begun only six months earlier, the renovation features a completely new design that includes the latest in Martin Professional lighting technology, a refurbishment that has raised the venue's profile to a "must visit" stop in central Asia.

Lighting designer for the anniversary show was François Guillet of Lumières Utiles who travelled from France to give life to the beautiful auditorium via the Martin rig.

Lighting and sound equipment was entrusted to APM Group, Martin Professional's distributor in Kazakhstan. Head of APM, CEO Maxim Vostrov, chose a large Martin package of 14 MAC III Profiles(TM) , 24 MAC 2000 Wash XBs(TM) , 110 MAC 700 Profiles(TM) , 80 MAC 700 Washes(TM) , 40 MAC TW1(TM) tungsten washes, and 12 MAC 301 Washes(TM) . Complementary smoke and haze effects come from Martin's Jem family in the form of Jem K1 Hazers(TM) , Jem Glaciator X-Streams(TM) and Jem Roadies(TM) .

Martin Professional's Vice President of Distributor Sales, Bruno Garros, commented on Martin's Kazakh distributor, stating, "Over the last two years, APM has achieved a fantastic sales performance in Kazakhstan by increasing their global professionalism and providing their customers a high level of added value in terms of marketing, support, training and service, both for the entertainment and projects markets."

The anniversary show, which featured orchestral music, song and dance, was reserved for the President of Kazakhstan, his government team and invited media.

Martin Equipment:
100 x MAC 700 Profile™
72 x MAC 700 Wash™
40 x MAC TW1™
12 x MAC 2000 Wash XB™
8 x MAC III Profile™
2 x Jem K1 Hazer™
2 x Jem Glaciator X-Stream™
2 x Jem Roadie™