in profi le
fINTERVIEW
82 APRIL 2020 • WWW.LSIONLINE.COM
C
Copenhagen-based Sune
Verdier is a lighting/visuals
designer and production
manager who works primarily in the
theatre, concert touring and corporate
event sectors, where his talent, style and
affable personality have ensured
a steady stream of work since the start
of his professional career.
An avid drummer from the age of 10,
Verdier grew up mixing with other
musicians and playing in several bands,
making plenty of key contacts along the
way.
Whilst he had no plans to be a lighting
designer at the time, he knew he wanted
to be on the performance frontline,
around the kit and in the thick of the
action doing gigs. Right from the start he
realised a gig was a huge team effort,
and was keen to develop his practical
skills, general usefulness and
understanding of all the processes
involved in a production.EARLY STAGER
Verdier first became serious about
lighting whilst at elementary school in
Skovlunde, a suburb of Copenhagen.
“I was always the kid helping the teacher
with the AV challenges,” he says.
Aged 13, he got involved in an after-
school group for music-related skills as
technical/backstage staff. The group was
preparing for an upcoming production of
Grease, coordinated by Jesper Hansen,
a production professional who worked
as a lighting programmer at the Royal
Theatre in Copenhagen. Hansen spotted
some promising vocational traits in
Verdier, which resulted in the young
technician running lights for the school
production. Inspired by this experienced,
Verdier was convinced that a career in
lighting was his future.
Shortly after, he began working
part-time at a local rental company,
Conpro in Værløse, filling his out-of-
school hours and sharpening his
technical knowledge. He pressed on
through high school and used his sparehours to engage in lighting and
production-based activities, including as
a lighting programmer for the town’s
local music festival.
It was through Conpro in 2005 when
Verdier first became involved in Roskilde- Denmark’s well-known international
music festival - and he has taken part in
the event in some capacity ever since. In
recent years, this has been as technical
coordinator and lighting production
designer for the Arena Stage, where
Verdier introduced a full moving light rig
and advance choice between multiple
rig configurations for individual artist
LDs.
Another key development from his
time at Conpro was meeting Mikael
Windfeldt, instigator of production
industry professionals collective
B-QL.DK, with whom he’s worked in
a freelance capacity for the last 14 years.
ON TOUR
Electro pop-rocker band Dúné was
the first major touring act that Verdier
landed as a lighting designer, through
his acquaintance with their drummer. He
offered to do their lights one night and
was subsequently asked on tour for the
next 18 months. After that tour ended,
another LD contacted Verdier to work on
the road with The Asteroids Galaxy Tour,
a popular Danish band at the time. With
them, Verdier worked worldwide for two
and a half years, including visits to Asia,
Latin America and touring extensively
throughout Europe. Once this tour was
completed at the end of 2012, he became
the LD for pop group Infernal, who
remain an ongoing client today.
Verdier maintains that there hasn’t
been a ‘down period’ since he joined the
industry full-time. His broad practical and
technical skill base - including being
accomplished in CAD drawing and 3D
visualisations, and an efficient lighting
programmer - as well as his creativity,
imagination and management
techniques, have all combined well for
different projects.RECENT PROJECTS
Verdier coordinates the production
management and design for all Red
Bull’s eSports events in Denmark. Other
recent projects include Danish Design,
a modern ballet at the Bellevue Teatret
in Klampenborg north of Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, his theatre lighting design
work has increased in the last five years,
which has presented the chance for
collaborations with scenographer and
lighting designer Benjamin la Cour, with
whom he worked on a widely-acclaimed
2017 production of American Idiot staged
at the Den Grå Hal in Copenhagen.
Last year, he lit the 25th anniversary
celebrations of Norwegian no-frills
supermarket REMA 1000 in the Jyske
Bank Boxen arena in Herning. The event
was attended by the company’s 9,000
Danish employees and was one of the
largest corporate events in the country.
Along the way, Verdier has gained
a reputation for taking bold design
decisions that pay off aesthetically.
Among his career highlights is
programming lighting for the MGP,
Denmark’s annual Junior Eurovision
music competition - for LD Johnny
Thinggaard Lydiksen - which Verdier has
done since 2016. Other career milestones
include the first time he headed up the
Arena technical crew at Roskilde in 2014.
“I have always loved the event,” he says,
“so getting into a trusted position like that
and having to deliver so much to so many
expectations is a big honour.”
Beyond designing, Verdier enjoys
working as part of a production team.
When he is the lighting programmer on
a project, he perceives himself as
a co-designer with a different perspective
and an alternative input that the LD can
also consider as part of the bigger picture.
In his limited free time, Verdier enjoys
travelling, especially when he gets to
explore somewhere new. Socialising,
cooking and entertaining are his favourite
pastimes, and he has many friends,
including in the industry he loves, lives
and breathes. ILouise Stickland meets lighting and visuals designer, Sune Verdier...
“I have always loved Roskilde, so getting into a trusted position and having
to deliver so much to so many expectations is a big honour.. .”