I met with Alain Carbonneau, president of Apogée and representing Canada for the first time in the Montreal International Fireworks Competition. Apogée were invited to perform the opening show in 2016, which they did to acclaim from the public.
Alain Carbonneau
Alain has a long history in the fireworks business in Canada, originally working for FiatLux in Montreal and event promoter Frank Furtado, who ran the Vancouver and Toronto fireworks competitions as well as Montreal (when it started in 1985). Eventually Alain formed his own company with the help of his Spanish mentor, Pedro Garcia (who sadly was killed in a car crash in 1998). Struggling for a name for the company, eventually inspiration came after seeing “Apogee” included on a box of electronic equipment, Alain explained the name is particularly apt for fireworks as the zenith of the trajectory of a star or a shell is its apogee. Alain was particularly interested in European fireworks due to his mentor, and made many contacts in the industry in Spain and Italy, having a relationship with Parente Fireworks as well as Antonio Caballer. Alain found himself designing dozens of shows a year with Parente and used the contacts there when he was running the Casino de Lac Leamy international fireworks competition in Gatineau. Parente helped with the setup, including their wireless FireMaster firing system. Eventually Alain competed in competitions in Europe, where he won the first and jury prizes at the Pyronale in Berlin in 2008 as well as the first prize in 2010 at Fiocchi di Luce in Asiago, Italy.
For his debut competition display in Montreal, Alain spent around two months selecting and refining the soundtrack. Coming up with an appropriate name was also a challenge but, eventually, the title “The Immortals” came to mind and the theme is a tribute to many great musicians who have died in the past few years.
Alain’s design style is probably unique in the industry. Rather than using any kind of software, he uses a narrative approach to the design and uses words to describe the storyboard of the display. These words are then matched to products that he has an intimate knowledge of to build the final display.
Speaking of products, Alain said his aim was to respect the budget but still give a European flavour to his display. To that end, he is using Chinese products from Canadian Pyro (based in Manitoba) and Big Top Fireworks as well as Chinese cakes from Mystical Distributing (based in British Columbia). European products come from Parente (Italy) and Grupo Luso (Portugal). In terms of large calibre products, there will be fifty 200mm shells fired.
The display will be fired with the FireMaster wireless system using modules from series III, IV and V with a cue-count of around 1200. There will be some special structures on ramps 2 and 4 as well as some special effects designs on ramp 3. Due to the use of nauticals, the floating pontoons forming ramp 5 will not be used. Some of the special effects (that will be used in the Under Pressure track) have never been seen before in Montreal. Alain explained the aim of the display is to create many difference ambiences and feelings and, to encourage the audience to attend at La Ronde on Wednesday, noted “it’s a must see!”. The weather forecast is perfect, too!
