Masters de Feu 2022: a pyrotechnic journey around the world

In 2022, Masters de Feu chose to take audiences on a journey without leaving Compiègne. Under the theme “Around the World,” the evening of September 17 turned the racecourse into an open stage for continents, cultures, and imaginations. After an opening historical sequence marked by a French victory in previous editions, the competition entered a new dynamic: the selections for the Silver Master, the first step toward the grand final of the Gold Master. The goal was clear: bring together European pyrotechnic houses, assign them a shared theme, then let their artistic signature speak in the sky.

A universal theme to open a new stage of the competition

“Around the World” is more than an appealing title. For a pyrotechnic competition, it is a demanding promise. It invites pyrotechnicians to evoke landscapes, rhythms, colors, journeys, and sometimes even collective memories. A synchronized fireworks display is not limited to the intensity of the bursts: it tells a story, it composes, it creates progression. By choosing this theme, Masters de Feu offered the teams the opportunity to build a visual and musical narrative capable of crossing borders, while remaining clear to a family audience primarily there to experience a powerful emotion outdoors.

This edition also marked the launch of a new competition period. Over three years of selections, the invited teams had to compete for the status of Silver Master. The winners of these successive events would then meet again in a grand final, with the Gold Master as the destination. This format gives the competition a rare dimension: each evening exists as a complete show, but it also belongs to a longer, almost sporting trajectory, where consistency, creativity, and the ability to captivate both jury and audience truly matter.

Four European nations before the Compiègne sky

To open this new selection season, four countries were announced in competition: Spain, France, Slovakia, and Switzerland. Each arrived with its own history, its own composition habits, and its own way of treating the relationship between music and pyrotechnics. Behind these nations, several houses and creators represented different schools: Hermanos Caballer Pirotécnicos for Spain, Carat Pyrotechnie for France, Privatex-Pyro for Slovakia, and Sugyp for Switzerland. Through them, the audience could appreciate the richness of an art often reduced to its brilliance, when in fact it relies on a finely tuned mechanism: choice of calibers, height of effects, tempo, colors, transitions, silences, and final sequence.

France arrived with particular anticipation, fueled by the memory of the tricolor victory during the first Masters de Feu series. But the spirit of the competition is not simply about defending a flag. It is about comparing pyrotechnic styles, understanding how each team interprets a theme, and then sensing whether the whole delivers on its promise. One show may impress with power, another with finesse, a third with its narrative sense. In an international competition, the difference often lies in these details: a perfectly timed sequence, a daring color palette, a dramatic build that finds the right balance.

Six shows for a large-scale evening

The 2022 edition announced not one, but six shows. This generous format gave the evening a special breadth. In addition to the four competing fireworks displays, there were an opening show and a closing show, allowing the organizers to create a true journey. The audience was therefore not attending a simple succession of launches, but a scripted evening, with an opening, a competitive core, and a conclusion signed by a recognized artistic partner of the event. This structure is one of the strengths of Masters de Feu: it sustains tension, varies artistic signatures, and allows comparison without diminishing the spectacular experience.

The opening show had a singular significance, as it was entrusted to Thomas Decorte, awarded the prize for best young creator. This invitation gave space to emerging talent in a world where know-how is passed on as much as it is invented. Opening a competition evening is a delicate exercise: you must set the atmosphere, capture attention, establish the tone without exhausting the element of surprise. By placing a young talent in this strategic moment, Masters de Feu reminded everyone that pyrotechnics is a living art, nourished by the experience of major houses as well as the boldness of new generations.

ARTEVENTIA at the close, the signature of a historic partner

As in previous editions, the evening was to end with a closing show by ARTEVENTIA, the official partner of Masters de Feu. This non-competitive sequence holds an important place in how the event is experienced. After the competing teams’ proposals, it gives the audience one final rise in intensity, more geared toward celebration than evaluation. The closing show acts as a final salute: it gathers every gaze, extends the emotion, and leaves the racecourse wrapped in that suspended light that defines the memory of great night-time spectacles.

ARTEVENTIA’s presence also highlights the central role of production in an event of this kind. A fireworks competition is not simply a matter of inviting teams and opening the gates to the public. It requires coordination of safety, technical operations, hospitality, setup times, firing areas, musical constraints, access, and the flow of the evening. The magic visible from the stands rests on extremely precise organization. The more natural the spectacle appears, the greater the amount of groundwork behind it.

Compiègne Racecourse, a setting designed for grand pyrotechnic nights

The choice of Compiègne Racecourse gives Masters de Feu a strong identity. The venue offers the space needed for large-scale launches while allowing the audience a wide and unobstructed view. In a pyromusical show, distance, perspective, and the openness of the sky play a decisive role. Effects must be able to unfold, breathe, and form legible luminous architectures. The racecourse then becomes more than a venue: it functions as a panoramic stage, with depth, lines, and a direct relationship to the night.

For spectators, the experience begins even before the first launch. Arriving on site, waiting as dusk falls, talking about the competing countries, discovering the theme, and feeling anticipation build all contribute to the evening’s dramaturgy. Masters de Feu has the ability to bring together several audiences: pyrotechnics enthusiasts, families, curious visitors, music lovers, residents of the Oise, and guests who travel especially for the event. For a few hours, everyone shares the same attention, turned toward the sky.

Pyrotechnics as a common language

The theme “Around the World” highlighted what pyrotechnics has most universal. Colors, rhythms, and shapes speak immediately, beyond language. But this immediacy should not make us forget the sophistication of the craft. Behind each sequence lies a score of launches, product choices, an analysis of the soundtrack, and a reflection on heights and volumes. A golden effect may evoke celebration, a deep blue may open a more contemplative space, a rapid sequence may convey the energy of a city or a dance. Success lies in the harmony between intention and sensation.

By inviting Spain, France, Slovakia, and Switzerland to take on the same theme, Masters de Feu gave the audience the keys to a fascinating comparison. How does each team imagine travel? Through music, through color, through exoticism, through poetry, through the force of the finale? This kind of artistic confrontation is what makes the competition so compelling. The goal is not to produce the loudest fireworks, but the most precise, the most coherent, the most memorable show.

A pivotal edition on the road to the Gold Master

The 2022 edition will be remembered as a starting point: the beginning of a new series of selections toward the Gold Master. It set the scene, established the first artistic rivalries, and reaffirmed the ambition of the Compiègne event: to make fireworks an art of composition, emotion, and competition. With its six shows, its opening entrusted to a young creator, its four European nations, and its closing by ARTEVENTIA, the “Around the World” evening brought together the essential ingredients of a major popular and demanding event.

At Masters de Feu, the journey often begins with a spark. In 2022, it took the form of an invitation to travel the planet through light, sound, and imagination. The Compiègne audience was not simply there to watch fireworks: it was there to choose, feel, compare, applaud, and take part in a pyrotechnic adventure designed to last. It is this alliance between international competition and collective emotion that makes Masters de Feu unique, and that gives each edition the promise of a lasting memory.