The National Centre for the Performing Arts, one of China’s most prestigious and
architecturally striking performance complexes, has invested in a large number of
Claypaky’s latest award-winning LED HCR wash light, the Claypaky K-EYE K20, along
with the another of the brand’s award-winning fixtures, the Claypaky Scenius Profile,
as part of a major upgrade to the lighting rigs in its theatre and opera halls.

Known locally as the National Grand Theatre, The National Centre for the Performing
Arts is located in Beijing, covering an area of 30,000m2 close to Tiananmen Square.
The ellipsoidal venue’s domed exterior of titanium and glass (which has earned it the
nickname ‘The Giant Egg’) houses four bespoke, world-class auditoriums – the
Theatre, Opera House, Concert Hall and another multi-functional theatre space.
“The National Centre for the Performing Arts needed to update its lighting rig as the
equipment that was in use was over ten years old,” says Zhang Wei, manager of the
Beijing lighting department of A.C.E, Claypaky’s official distribution partner in China,
which made the sale. “As the fixtures were mainly to be used in the venue’s
performance halls, the venue’s technical team had very specific requirements.”

With such a significant investment, it was essential that the fixtures could offer the
technical team a superior colour output in this critical theatrical setting. The high CRI
and CTO correction of the LED-based K-EYE K20 HCR meant the venue was able to
use the low-power LED wash fixture in much the same way as they would a
conventional tungsten wash light.

The K-EYE K20 HCR is the latest fixture to be released by the leading Italian brand. It
features six LED chips – Red, Green, Blue, Amber, Cyan and Lime – to produce not
only a wide range of colours and shades but a very high-quality white light. The
fixture features a typical CRI value of more than 97.

“The National Grand Theatre is a long-term client of A.C.E,’ says Mr Wei. “In making
the sale to our client, we knew Claypaky products to be reliable and high-quality
fixtures. The new K-EYE HCR has an intelligent colour system, with a lot of new, in-
built knowledge, so is great in a theatrical application.”

Speaking of the Scenius Profile, Mr Wei says, “For the large-scale opera productions
such as the recent production of Millennium Road, the Scenius Profile is a good choice.
The production’s lighting designer, Sha Xiaolan, used over 100 of these fixtures.”