Masters de Feu: a look back at three breathtaking editions

Before the grand finale of the 2019 Gold Master, Masters de Feu had already written three spectacular chapters at the Compiègne racecourse. From the competition’s birth in 2016 to France’s victory in 2018, the event brought together fireworks houses from across Europe and beyond, juries made up of renowned personalities, thousands of spectators, and a clear ambition: to place competition fireworks back at the heart of a major popular, exacting, international event. This look back at the first three editions recalls how Italy, Greece, and France earned their place in the 2019 final, set to award the highly coveted Gold Master.

A competition born in Compiègne to showcase the art of pyrotechnics

Masters de Feu emerged in 2016 with a strong idea: to offer French audiences an international fireworks competition capable of standing alongside Europe’s major contests in artistic and technical quality. The choice of Compiègne was no coincidence. The racecourse offers a vast open-air setting, spacious enough to host large-scale pyrotechnic displays, musical staging, and a family audience looking to enjoy a full evening experience.

The format quickly gave the event its identity. Each year, three international companies are invited to present an original creation around a set theme. They must work with music, rhythm, colour, height, the variety of effects, and emotion: a competition fireworks display does more than light up the sky, it tells a story. At the end of the evening, the votes distinguish a winner, holder of the Silver Master. After three years of selection, these winners return for a grand final, where the Gold Master is at stake.

2016: Parente Fireworks opens the honours list with Italy

On 24 September 2016, the first edition of Masters de Feu set the tone. Three European houses came to Compiègne to launch the competition: Pirotecnia Caballer for Spain, Fire Event for Austria and Parente Fireworks for Italy. The jury, chaired by Philippe Candeloro, discovered a particularly strong line-up, in an atmosphere of launch fuelled by public curiosity and the desire to see a major pyrotechnic event reborn in the Oise region.

The theme of this first edition, “Draw me nature,” invited the pyrotechnicians to work with a sensitive palette: landscapes, seasons, organic movements, plant or animal evocations, the breath of life. Parente Fireworks prevailed with a proposal that was both precise and expressive. The Italian house, drawing on historic expertise, became the first winner of the Silver Master and, as a result, the first finalist invited back in 2019.

Above all, this founding edition proved that a fireworks competition could bring people together far beyond enthusiasts. In Compiègne, fireworks become a collective experience: people come with family, with friends, sometimes from far away, to compare styles, listen to the music, feel the silence before each volley and judge the precision of a skyward composition. From 2016 onward, Masters de Feu established this dual promise: a major popular spectacle and a high-level competition.

2017: Nanos Fireworks takes the audience on a journey through Europe

The second edition confirmed the momentum. On 8 September 2017, Masters de Feu returned to the Compiègne racecourse with a highly evocative theme: “The secrets of Europe’s capitals.” Travel was at the heart of the evening. Brussels, London, Athens: each competitor was given an urban world to transform in the sky, with its rhythms, colours, suggested landmarks, musical references and atmosphere.

The line-up brought together HC Pyrotechnics for Belgium, Smart Pyrotechnics for the United Kingdom and Nanos Fireworks for Greece. Under the presidency of Sandra Lou, the jury awarded the Greek company Nanos Fireworks, whose performance stood out for its sense of timing and its ability to combine narrative, intensity and clarity. In a pyro-musical competition, synchronisation is essential: every launch, every bouquet, every break must answer the score. Nanos Fireworks turned that constraint into a strength and won the 2017 Silver Master.

This Greek victory broadened the path to the final. After Italy in 2016, Greece entered the race for the 2019 Gold Master. It brought a different sensibility, a distinct style of writing, and a way of handling contrasts and emotion. For spectators, the 2017 edition also confirmed that Masters de Feu is not just a succession of luminous tableaux: each house comes to defend a pyrotechnic culture, a style, a signature.

2018: Grand Final gives France its ticket to the final

The third edition, held on 22 September 2018, took as its playing field a particularly spectacular theme: cinema. The subject seemed made for pyrotechnics. It allowed for dramatic build-ups, nods to great soundtracks, shifts in mood, surprise effects and powerful finales. That year, the jury was chaired by Gérard Jugnot, a beloved figure of French cinema, whose presence gave the chosen theme a special resonance.

Three competitors went head to head: Surex for Poland, Apogée for Canada and Grand Final for France. In a highly anticipated setting, the French company Grand Final won the 2018 Silver Master. Its performance stood out for its ability to translate the cinematic imagination into clear, rhythmic and emotional sequences. Fireworks become editing, tracking shot, crescendo, action scene or suspended moment. The music guides the eye, the effects extend the mental image, and the sky above Compiègne becomes a giant screen.

With this victory, the trio of finalists was complete: Parente Fireworks for Italy, Nanos Fireworks for Greece and Grand Final for France. Three countries, three houses, three pyrotechnic signatures. The 2019 final could therefore take on the dimension of a true artistic showdown, with competitors already familiar to the Compiègne audience and carried by the prestige of their previous victory.

2019: a final designed as the summit of the first cycle

On 21 September 2019, the three winners of the 2016, 2017 and 2018 editions came together in Compiègne for the grand Gold Master final. The stakes were higher than in the selection years: it was no longer simply about winning an edition, but about becoming the champion of the first Masters de Feu cycle. The announced theme, inspired by great works and timeless classics, opened up a particularly rich repertoire: opera, symphonic music, sacred works, monumental scores and grand orchestral movements.

The evening was also designed as a complete spectacle, with opening and closing displays outside the competition entrusted to ArtEventia. This structure reinforced the gala character of the event: the audience was not merely attending three performances, but a major pyrotechnic ceremony. The finalists, meanwhile, had to convince on precise criteria: aesthetics, emotion, synchronisation, product diversity and overall coherence. At this level, every second counts.

The 2019 final marked the culmination of an intuition born three years earlier: to establish, in Compiègne, a competition capable of creating its own story. In 2016, the event had to be born. In 2017, it had to prove its appeal. In 2018, the final had to be given its full intensity. The three editions fulfilled their mission: they brought finalists to the fore, built audience loyalty and laid the foundations of a honours list destined to matter in the world of pyrotechnics.

Three editions, one promise: the emotion of fireworks on a grand scale

This look back at the early years of Masters de Feu recalls what makes the competition unique. Fireworks here are seen as both an art of precision and a universal language. They speak to childhood, memory, music and spectacle. They demand flawless technique, but only truly matter when they move the audience.

Parente Fireworks, Nanos Fireworks and Grand Final each, in their own way, embodied that ambition. Their successive victories built the drama of the 2019 Gold Master and established Masters de Feu among France’s leading pyrotechnic events. In Compiègne, the sky is never merely decorated: it becomes a stage, a score and a competition arena. It is this alchemy of rigour, emotion and popular celebration that continues to beat at the heart of Masters de Feu.