When Twentieth Century Fox held their International Rental Summit, which brought together over 140 Fox clients from 17 countries, Empire Entertainment was chosen to be the producer of the entire conference. The three day, multi-function program was held in mid-December and included general sessions that explored emerging trends in the international distribution of filmed entertainment, and previewed forthcoming video releases such as "X-Men," "Me, Myself & Irene," "Bedazzled" and "Big Momma's House" among others. The presentations required simultaneous translation into 7 languages. Empire Entertainment provided full-service management of this program including site selection, contracting the Four Seasons Hotel, destination management, banquet supervision, theme attendee activities such as helicopter tours and "Cosmic Bowling" and all aspects of the design, staging and production of the business sessions as well as all entertainment. The challenge: To excite, inspire and entertain top customers from around the world in the entertainment industry who have seen and done everything. The result: in the words of Fox senior management, Empire's work created "The best Summit yet!"

Empire produced two nights of headline entertainment at this spectacular resort setting on Mexico's Pacific Coast for a top international beverage company's senior management and most-valued clients. Complimenting the stunning environment with perfectly-suited entertainment, Empire produced internationally renowned Flamenco artist Ottmar Liebert under the moon & stars in a mission-style courtyard. On the second evening, Glenn Frey of The Eagles closed the conference with a 75 minute performance on the Pacific beach with with a 9 piece 'unplugged' band. To meet the challenges of providing world-class production value in the middle of the Mexican jungle, Empire Entertainment transported all staging, sound, lighting and crew from the United States, handling all logistics of cross-border shipping and permits and communications. Call Empire if you are planning a program in Mexico and take advantage of our experience in this country.

It's not often that corporate concerts are reviewed in major publications like The New York Times, but when Empire produced Grammy-award winning singer, Sheryl Crow, the business editor couldn't resist including a story entitled, "A Technology Crowd is Soothed by Song." The piece, which appeared in the business section of the Sunday New York Times, included... "There is a challenge to cheering up a bunch of downtrodden technology investors...but [Empire's client] may have found a way." ... "Ms. Crow ...belted hits like "Leaving Las Vegas" and "My Favorite Mistake." She and her band clearly brightened the mood of 1000 ... attendees from Palo Alto to Wall Street." The New York Times, 12/3/00. Sheryl Crow's rocking set and band not only brightened the mood but will be remembered as one of the most dynamic and hard rocking parties of the Internet boom years.

Empire constantly identifies and secures new, unexpected and often ground-breaking entertainment to fulfill our client's ever changing needs. At a conference for an international investor group, Empire produced another rare moment in corporate entertainment with British headline concert act Squeeze for an enthusiastic and responsive audience of over 400 executives. The appreciative attendees danced throughout the show and gave Squeeze multiple standing ovations after their 75 minute performance which included many of their biggest hits such as "Tempted," "Black Coffee In Bed" & "Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)." Finding and securing artists that pinpoint the needs of demographically mixed group is one of Empire's greatest strengths. The program also included a variety of other elements including a rousing motivational speech by baseball legend Tommy Lasorda.

In November 2000, Empire produced an extremely successful emerging technology conference / expo for one of the world's largest financial services firms.The two day event was held at Bridgewaters, at the South Street Seaport, New York City, and featured next generation technologies from nearly 70 high-tech firms & organizations including Microsoft, MIT Media Lab, Mercedes-Benz, TiVo and others. The participating companies showcased the latest wireless, voice-activated and internet appliance products in a unique, comfortable & multi-functional environment designed and produced by Empire Entertainment.Top Internet and technology speakers were also on hand to share their technological predictions and strategies in several general sessions, some of which were broadcast to international locations via satellite. The event was instrumental in helping to position this financial services client as a leader in emerging technologies.

For a client dinner event held for a high level Japanese and American audience at the Four Seasons Chinzan-So in Tokyo, Empire conceptualized, designed and produced a series of traditional Japanese entertainment vignettes that were performed between courses. The evening's 'Four Seasons' theme featured live entertainment, Ikebana (floral arrangements) and stage design that symbolized each of Japan's seasons. The Autumn segment featured Taiko drummers & dancers performing before an arrangement of harvest foliage. The Winter segment featured an ensemble of Koto & Shakuhachi, a dance by a solo performer in a sea of fog and a giant brush stroke painting backdrop that was created live by renowned suiboku-ga artist Tohun Kobayashi. The Spring vignette celebrated the cherry blossom (Sakura) festival and featured female dancers dressed in furisode kimono performing a traditional dance with fans & cherry blossom boughs. The Summer piece was based on the fireworks festivals that are held each Summer throughout Japan. This finale included a fiber optic simulation of fireflies, singing children with glowing lanterns, the renowned Tokyo Dagekidan Taiko Drum Troupe and a team of dancer / acrobats. The breathtaking performance concluded with simulated fireworks and a standing ovation.

When International Event Designer Colin Cowie Lifestyle sought a full service production & talent partner with international capabilities to partner with on a multi-million dollar wedding project in Florence, Italy, they chose Empire Entertainment to provide a broad range of services including production design, staging, sound, video projection & A/V support, labor, electrical power, stage management and talent booking & logistics.

The wedding program for 150 guests from around the world ran for a full weekend and included a Friday night event at the Castello di Vincigliata in the Tuscany Hills, a luncheon event in a Florence sculpture garden, a one-of-a-kind wedding ceremony and an unforgettable reception and after-party at the Palazzo Gerini in Florence.The spectacular wedding Ceremony was held in the Orsan Michele Church in central Florence. The ceremony featured, among other highlights, Steven Spielberg walking the bride down the aisle, a 14 member ensemble of Italian musicians playing ancient Italian musical instruments, an Italian children's choir, a choral group from Sweden and a gospel choir from the United States, Patti Austin and James Ingram working under the direction of Quincy Jones, The Poem of Rumi read by Deepak Chopra, an aria sung by opera legend Andrea Bocelli and a ceremony led by none other than the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

To stage this extraordinary event Empire utilized its extensive network of contacts throughout Europe to deliver the very best production technicians and craft people. Empire planned, organized and led the efforts of this multinational team of experts to execute a large series of incredibly demanding events in a very short period of time in a locale that presented many unique challenges in addition to the customary language & cultural barriers, communications difficulties, time zone response time lags, customs hassles, work permit & visa issues and archaic music licensing statutes.Empire delivered flawlessly under these adverse conditions and was able to integrate and orchestrate its efforts perfectly with the dozens experts on the Colin Cowie design team.The resulting weekend and wedding was one of the most extraordinary weddings ever staged.

When an international beverage & food company sought to convene their global management of many divisions in Puerto Rico for four days of business meetings, activities and entertainment, they turned to Empire Entertainment to manage the complex series of events, the wide variety of talent and the issues of producing meetings & performances in Puerto Rico.The conferences were ably managed by Kaleidoscope Productions but the entertainment which included performances by Harry Belafonte, Jon Secada and Celia Cruz with the José Alberto Orchestra were managed by Empire Entertainment.

The Harry Belafonte and Jon Secada shows were staged at the Hyatt regency Cerromar Beach but the focus of the engagement was an event staged outdoors in Old San Juan in a the Quartel de Bellaja, a colonial era building featuring a large indoor courtyard.For this engagement, Empire worked closely with the client, the caterer, the designers and a variety of production vendors and talent to deliver a seamless event with state of the art sound, lighting and staging in the unpredictable outdoor weather of Puerto Rico.Empire brought in massive staging, fully self-sufficient electrical power systems, a lighting system that included a huge number of instruments to light the historic architecture of the courtyard, state of the art sound that served the needs of both the CEO who addressed the audience and the series of bands who led the international guests in dancing late into the night.

Presented in Dakar, Senegal this year, the 19th Grand Challenges Annual Meeting hosted over 60 sessions across two venues, and over four days, with over 1,400 attendees, promoting the sharing of information across global health verticals. This year’s Grand Challenges Annual Meeting was the largest to date. During daily plenary sessions, delegates heard from the likes of Bill Gates, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Comoros President Azali Assourmani, U. S. Ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman, and a wide range of scientific leaders representing various fields of research. Added to this year’s event were several musical and artistic elements, including an evening concert by Senegalese musical superstar and health advocate Youssou N’dour and a performance by the Kanjele Gospel Choir. It was a privilege to be involved in another meaningful and impactful Grand Challenges Annual Meeting.

To learn more and view the sessions visithttps://www.grandchallenges.org/annual-meeting

To celebrate the premier of ABC Television's star-studded version of Annie, Empire was called upon to 'imagineer' an elegant theme. After the screening of the film, over 1,000 guests proceeded to The Roseland Ballroom in New York City, which Empire converted for the evening into the grand and glorious mansion of Daddy Warbucks. The Christmas environment featured at the end of the film was replicated with the use of snow machines that blew snow over iron gates and an antique car that marked the event entrance.Once inside, guests drank eggnog and danced to the sounds of the George Gee Big Band while children decorated gingerbread cookies and opened presents under a giant Christmas tree in the center of the room.