1998 l'International Benson & Hedges Montréal Pyromusical Competition Report

Paul's Rankings for 1998

The quality of the competition was outstanding this year, making it very difficult to pick a clear winner. Every display was unique and enjoyable and there is very little to seperate the teams from each other. However, I will be bold and give my overall ratings of all the displays and try and pick the three winners.

First of all, a small critique of each display:

• Italy - Incredible choreography and synchronization, with choice of music which really highlighted this, especially the note-by-note effects. Good colours, beautiful shells, especially the multi-breaks and the best finale of the competition.
• France - Some very unusual effects, from smokey fireballs to bee-like crossettes. Excellent colours and nice use of rockets. Overall good synchronization and music.
• Canada - Smooth flowing display with excellent synchronization and choreography. Good choice of material including girandolas and nice use of rockets and nautic mines. Good finale.
• Spain - Fantastic girandolas, incredible colours, especially the blues. Synchronization not as tight as some but a fantastic finale. Music not to everyone's taste.
• Austria - Great material, fantastic nautic mines, synchronization not as tight as some but good choice of music. Great finale.
• China - Incredibly complex display with a very theatrical style and great choregraphy and synchronization (technical difficulties excepted). Lots of unusual material but a pity that the periods of darkness spoiled the rhythm.
• Germany - Best use of rockets. Some nice material including girandolas. Good synchronization but the initial theme of the display was lost part way through. Rather unexciting finale.
• United States - Very artistically choregraphed. Very complex display with seamless flow throughout. Excellent synchronization though the music didn't always exploit this. Great choice of material. Would be perfect with a slightly more dramatic finale.

My pick for the prizes this year is:

• Gold - Spain
• Silver - Italy
• Bronze - United States
• 4^th - France
• 5^th - Canada
• 6^th - Austria
• 7^th - Germany
• 8^th - China - Due to technical difficulties - otherwise a Jupiter winner

The competition was very close this year and knowing the order of the competitors my predications for the jury's results are:

• Gold - United States
• Silver - Italy
• Bronze - Spain

Official Results

• Gold Jupiter Performance Pyrotechnic Associates, United States
• Silver Jupiter Ipon S.R.L., Italy
• Bronze Jupiter Ricardo Caballer, Spain
• Special Jupiter Richard Shaw, Canada, for recognition of years of service responsible for safety at the firing ramps

La Ronde Successissimo Sunday July 19^th, 1998

Panzera

As usual, a fantastic display by Maestro Giovanni Panzera. I didn't take any notes, but just sat back and watched a perfect summer's sky painted by fire, building to a deafening finale, a fitting end to a fantastic year's competition.