30,000 fireworks, more than 80 firing positions in the Olympic Lake and on the Olympic Mountain, effects of 256 different colors up to a height of 200 meters: the material for one of the largest and most spectacular fireworks in Germany at the one-day open-air “Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Saturday, 15th March is impressive July, in the Munich Olympic Park. Around 40,000 spectators are expected.
Equally impressive are the numbers left behind by the storm on Wednesday for the “Spectacular Colours” fireworks display. Actually, Antonio Parente and his people from Italy would have finished the installation on Thursday, but the storm broke 36 ignition systems on floating barges in the lake and a third of the loudspeakers on the pontoons became unusable, says Thomas Jorhann, technical director and Olympic Park pyrotechnician. You could borrow them, some are still drying on the lake shore.
Without further ado, employees were sent to Melara, the headquarters of the fireworks manufacturer Parente Fireworks in northern Italy, to get supplies. Mixed, pressed and delivered manufactured, employees of the traditional company in the fifth generation assemble the fireworks with the receivers on Thursday in the Pyro base camp at the Olympic Lake. Everything is done by hand before the racks, i.e. the frames, are carried into the boat, from where employees install and wire them in the lake. The costs are in the almost six-digit range.
Antonio Parente choreographs around 500 fireworks a year.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The employees assemble the pyrotechnics by hand.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
An accident? Thank God it hasn’t happened yet, says Parente. After eleven years, he and his company are once again supporting the fireworks in the Olympic Park. He choreographs around 500 fireworks a year worldwide. He’s a bit excited, but happy to be back in Munich, he says. Fireworks are in his blood, so to speak. He gained experience in the family business and then acquired a large number of licenses and certificates.
Jorhann points from the boat to the blue-coated “Roman lights”, which will rise like a comet in Munich’s night sky with unusual color transitions from blue to red or lemon to pink. Six or seven at a time, in ever-changing patterns. From eight shots in 20 seconds to 140 in just under half a minute. Linked to music, this time with more dynamics, also for the young audience. Fireworks are always about emotions.
The shells with the explosives are recyclable and fixed in such a way that they do not end up in the Olympic lake.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Because such fireworks have their own choreography, he explains. Three parts, like an essay: an introduction, a body, a conclusion, says Jorhann. The introduction and main part are also each in three parts, and the end is the grand finale. “Crescendo,” Parente calls it. It’s all a composition of pyrotechnics, transformation effects and a timed soundtrack, including pieces by Linkin Park above Bon Jovi up to Marteria. Started more or less at the push of a button, which sets the receiver and electrical impulses in motion via the transmitter.
The fine dust pollution is so low that it is not measurable. The sleeves with the explosives are reusable and are attached in such a way that they do not end up in the water. In the end, only cardboard boxes and a little copper wire remained as residues. You don’t have to worry about the fish in the Olympic Lake either. One or the other even shows up between all the unfamiliar islands.