Patrick Woodroffe (lighting designer)

Patrick Woodroffe, OBE, RDI (born June 11, 1954 in Oxford) is a lighting designer working in the worlds of music, dance, fashion, art and architecture.[1]

Genesis "Turn It On Again" Tour Rehearsals 2007. Lighting Design by Patrick Woodroffe, Set Design by Mark Fisher

Family and education

Patrick Woodroffe grew up in Singapore and Germany was educated at Marlborough College and Copford Glebe School.
Patrick is married to Lucy Woodroffe with whom he has two children. He also has a daughter from a previous relationship. His brother, Simon Woodroffe, is the founder of Yo! Sushi, Yotel and YO! Company

Career

Woodroffe began his career in lighting in the mid Seventies and over forty years has lit and directed productions for many artists including ABBA, Bob Dylan, The Police, Take That, Peter Gabriel, Simon and Garfunkel, Genesis, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, Lady Gaga, and Elton John.

Woodroffe has worked with The Rolling Stones since 1982 as the lighting designer and creative director for their live shows. He lit Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light, the record of the Stones' live performances at the Beacon Theatre.

In 2009 Woodroffe lit the "This Is It" show for Michael Jackson [2] and subsequently worked on the feature film that remains the sole record of that production.

In opera, ballet and dance he has lit many productions, including Vienna State Opera and Finnish National Opera where the lighting took the place of the scenery. He lit Derek Deane’s large scale production of Swan Lake for the English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall.

He created the lighting for the Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Concerts for Cameron Mackintosh and has lit arena spectacles that include Ben Hur, Batman Live and Jesus Christ Superstar for Andrew Lloyd Webber. He also lit the Queen's Jubilee concert in 2002 that took place in the gardens at Buckingham Palace.

He has been responsible for lighting all the Vanity Fair Oscar parties in Los Angeles and Cannes for the last seventeen years.

He has created temporary light installations at the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath and the gardens at Highgrove House for the Prince of Wales. He created a lightscape at Somerset House [3] in London, which allows the facades of the building to change colour depending on the events which are taking place within the courtyard, and also a permanent scheme for the Madjedski Garden at the Victoria and Albert Museum [4] in London.

In 2000 Woodroffe was involved with the then Millennium Dome, lighting both the show inside and the exterior of the building. With impresario Steve Wynn he created The Lake of Dreams at the Wynn Hotel [5] in Las Vegas.

In 2012 he lit the opening and closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic Games and London 2012 Paralympic Games.[6]

In 2013 he created the lighting consultancy, Woodroffe Bassett Design with long-term associate Adam Bassett.

In 2013 he was made a Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA and he was awarded an OBE in the 2014 Birthday Honours.

References

  1. ↑ Interview on Front Row about the creative process of lighting a show
  2. ↑ Interview after the death of Michael Jackson
  3. ↑ Technical look at Somerset House installation
  4. ↑ Article on The V&A Museum installation
  5. ↑ Article about the Wynn Lake of Dreams
  6. ↑ Article on Patrick in the Sunday Times Culture section following the Olympic Opening Ceremony

External links