In the midst of a productive year, Jeff Ravitz was thrilled to be honored with the 2015 lighting Emmy by the Pacific Southwest chapter of NATAS, for his lighting design on A Salute To Teachers 2014. The annual broadcast airs on the Cox Cable Network, live from the historic and ornate Balboa Theater in San Diego. “The show combines a classic award show approach with impressive music and dance production numbers. I’m very pleased to be associated with such an important and high quality event,” Ravitz commented.
Ravitz has previously taken home five Emmys for the yearly show, as well as three additional regional Emmys from the Los Angeles and Michigan chapters, and one national Primetime Emmy for the HBO special, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Live From New York.
Ravitz had a busy 2015 prior to the Salute production. He designed the lighting for two major PBS concert specials: The Tenors Under One Sky, performed and shot in Windsor, Ontario, and the Italian trio, Il Volo’s production of Live From Pompeii, shot live at the amphitheatre located in the ancient ruins just outside Naples, Italy. Jeff returned from Italy to work on one of the most spectacularly produced comedy specials, Kevin Hart’s What Now?, shot before a live audience of over 50,000 fans at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The stand-up concert movie has announced a release date of October 16, 2016.
Ravitz has been the lighting designer for the theatrical stage production of director Stuart Gordon’s musical revamping of his cult movie, ReAnimator, titled appropriately, ReAnimator, The Musical. Among the various stagings of the show, one was at the Smith Center in Las Vegas in 2015, and Ravitz was present as designer.
Ravitz served as television lighting consultant for a series of major music festivals in 2015, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Life Is Beautiful, and Supersonico.
The busy designer ended the year by designing the lighting for the Los Angeles location of Al Gore’s worldwide webcast of Climate Reality 2016. The LA segment was hosted by Krista Smith and Pharrell Williams.
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