Fireworks Conquest of Paradise honoured the memory of the Czech firework maker
Brno – The Ignis Brunensis Festival moved to the Brno Lake, and on 8 June the audience watched the opening pyromusical. The fireworks with an emotional music was prepared by Czech fireworkers - friends and colleagues of Ivan Martinek, who retired to firework heaven at the end of 2023.
"We are opening the competition with the fireworks show Conquest of Paradise, which will commemorate the firework designer and co-founder of the festival Ivan Martinek. We will hear his favourite music by composer Vangelis," said Jiří Morávek on behalf of the organizer, SNIP & CO. This will be the 140th fireworks display synchronised with music in the twenty-seven-year history of Ignis Brunensis, in which Martinek has contributed with both competitive fireworks and overture shows.
The pyromusical was reminiscent of some of Martinek's fireworks shows - the use of rainbow effects, compositions tuned to certain colours and the spectacular golden ending that the designer often used for his shows. The creators worked with large shells in the sky as well as smaller effects dancing on the water.
The fireworks memory won the hearts of the audience at the lake: "I have to praise the authors for their choice of music, a great choice. The show itself was perfect," Radek Venclovský rated the spectacle.
"Today's fireworks display was, at least in my opinion, quite unusual, I saw stars in some of the effects, at one point it looked like the sun, I really liked it," commented Veronika Jirová.
Martinek got into fireworks thanks to theatre and stage effects, and he paid a lot of attention to both the technical aspect and the artistic impression. He designed fireworks for Ignis Brunensis with the Theatrum Pyroboli team and co-founded the festival in 1998. "The fireworks we do in Brno have entered the musical category; they carry a statement. It's an intensive experience for people. Humans have a relationship with the elements and fire is one of the stronger elements, it accompanies us through life for better or worse and fireworks are its decorative manifestation. That's why it's such a magnet. It's an unusual thing that doesn't happen every day, it's a holiday in a way," he described the Brno festival in an interview from previous years. Spectators confirmed his words: the fireworks dedicated to his memory were watched by a large audience at the lake, despite an unfavourable weather forecast.
The fireworks were preceded by a drone show called We are Europe. Another fireworks will be held on Wednesday 12 June: the German team Beisel Pyrotechnik has prepared a competition show called The Dance of the Angels with Two Steps on the Highway to Hell.
Dominika Lišková
The author graduated from FSS MU in Brno,
for more information from students of the faculty visit Stisk online
