I met with René and Nikolaus Langer, the father and son owners of steyrFire, which was founded in 1994/5 by René as a hobby endeavor. At the time René was at the University of Linz studying Computer Science with partner Kurt when they started doing New Year’s Eve shows for friends and family using consumer products. Realizing they couldn’t buy anything larger than 50mm calibre, they did the required training to get their professional licences. From the very beginning, after seeing a pyromusical (in the pre-YouTube days in 1994) at a seminar, they said they did all their shows either with music or as full pyromusicals afterwards. The company became fully professional in 1998 with their first pyromusical using around 50 cues for a 10-minute show.
The competition experience began in German with their attendence at the Potsdamer Feuerwerkersinfonie held in Potsdam every year. Winning first prize at their first attendence in 2007 gave them an automatic entry for 2008 where they also came first, but their automatic entry in 2009 garnered second place. Niki noted it was difficult to be invited to a competition without any prior history, but they were successful in Potsdam. Repeating the 1st, 1st, 2nd sequence in 2015, 2016 and 2017 also gave them the experience to win in Monaco in 2017. They also competed at the renowned Hanover competition in 2017, ironically after being invited the only year they hadn’t officially applied, where they came 2nd to the Polish team of Surex.
For the Montreal competition, their first overture was made in 2008, but a face to face meeting with the organizers in 2012 at the International Symposium on Fireworks in Malta lead them to begin the process. This requires a site visit to Montreal, where René saw the three final shows that same year of 2012. This was a big dream for René and the rest of the company and he noted that he was surprised to see the dedicated firing site. After their recent wins in Europe, the team said they were finally ready for the challenge and, after the shock and excitement of the official invitation received last December, they contacted others whom they know in the industry who had been to Montreal, including fellow Austrian Güter Vogler (winner of the Bronze Jupiter in 1997.
The choice of theme was decided collaboratively with the entire company, though Niki noted he’d seen a video called “Evolution of Dance” which inspired him – cleverly noting that both dance and pyromusicals are visual interpretations of music. Much time was spent on the choice of music for the soundtrack – an initial list over around 70 pieces was whittled down to the final sixteen pieces used. With pieces from all over the World, the soundtrack covers many types of dance as well as its evolution over time. A lot of time was spent on the design with Niki noting that he had to take a week’s break at one point to get the required focus, as he was responsible for 99% of the actual design, though with creative input from René and others. The firing system they’re using (PyroDigit) comes with some powerful visualization software, but Niki said this was mainly used to verify the data input into the system, with all the visual design being done in his head.
The display uses all ramps except ramp 4 (the control room) with 13 major and 12 minor positions on ramp 3 as well as four floating pontoons forming ramp 5. They are using a very interesting one-shot system that is truly plug-n-play, allowing a display to be setup without having to wire or plug e-matches. The one-shots used have a special hot-wire ignitor (which, as it is not pyrotechnic, allows the material to be shipped with this in-place) and the one-shot itself clicks into place like a camera lens would attach to a camera. The system allows both 30- and 50mm one-shots to be used in the same rack. The racks just connect together by serial cable, allowing for a very rapid setup. Niki noted a team of four can assemble a show of 2,000 one-shots in just half a day. The products are slightly more expensive than conventional ones, but this is massively offset by the saving in setup time. Two 30m high cranes will suspend 360degree fan racks.
Four European manufactures are represented – Antonia Scarpato (Italy) for 99.9% of the 4500 one-shots and 50-60% of the shells; Europlas (Spain) for some special effects; Iannotta (Italy) for cylinder shells and finally Lietto (Italy) for large spherical shells (the display will have seven 300mm, one 250mm, eight 200mm spherical and four cylinders and twenty five 175mm spherical shells).
Both Niki and René noted this display will be almost twice as large as their previous largest show to date and both invited the public to come to La Ronde to dance!