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The Celebration of Light (formerly known as Benson & Hedges Symphony of Fire) is an annual musical fireworks competition in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The first "Symphony of Fire" was held from July 25 to August 5 of 1990.
The event takes place in English Bay at 10:00 PDT on four nights over a two week period between July and August. Each of the four performances have a two day separation for preparation. Four companies representing their country perform a twenty-five minute firework display set to music with a grand finale on the last day in which all four competitors perform. But in 2006, the Celebration Finale didn't include components from participating countries. The music can be heard from large speakers set up on the beach or on many local radio stations during the event.
Over 1.6 million spectators come to the closest viewing points at the West End, Kitsilano, and Stanley Park to view the event, many of them coming from outside British Columbia. Most of the West End is closed to traffic from 7:30 p.m. while Kits Point is closed half an hour earlier. Roads open again at 11:30 p.m.. The massive crowd leaving the city is known to start many fights and leave tons of garbage behind that the city cleans up with street sweepers before the next day. Vancouver Police, British Columbia Ambulance Service, and St. John Ambulance volunteers collaborate to provide assistance to deal with potential emergencies with the large crowds present at the Celebration of Light.
In 2000, many people were worried that the Celebration of Light would be canceled because of a new law preventing events from being sponsored by tobacco companies. At the time, the event was sponsored by Benson & Hedges under the name Symphony of Fire. HSBC, among other organizations, now sponsors the event.
Starting in 2006, the number of teams competing has been increased from three to four, as it had been in previous years.
[edit] 2006 Program
All shows start at 10:00 p.m Pacific Daylight Time. The winner is Mexico, who joins this competition for the first time.
| Wednesday, July 26
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| Country: | Italy
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| Company: | A.P.E. di Parente Romualdo
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| Theme: | Magia Di Fuochi
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| Designer: | Michele Parente
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| Website: | www.parenteape.it
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| The Italian team's presentation is a peculiar and charming pyrotechnic show with wide variety of effects ranging from the sky to the water, dancing volcanoes, golden rain and a fantastic closure. Attendance was estimated at 400,000.
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| Saturday, July 29
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| Country: | China
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| Company: | Jiangxi Province Lidu Fireworks Corporation Ltd.
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| Theme: | Yellow River Odyssey
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| Designer: | Xu Delong
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| Website: | www.lidufireworks.com
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| The Chinese team's presentation features specific colours in each of the five sections: blue, silver and crackling, green, green falling leaves and gold. The music is performed by The Philarmonic Orchestra of China, accompanied by pianist Xiang-Dong Kong.
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| Wednesday, August 2
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| Country: | Czech Republic
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| Company: | Flash Barrandov Special Effects Ltd.
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| Theme: | Rhapsody in Blue
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| Designer: | Jaroslav Štolba
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| Website: | www.flash-sfx.cz
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| The Czech Republic show is an evening full of jazz music in four sections: Classical jazz, Conspiracy jazz, Latin jazz and Traditional jazz.
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| Saturday, August 5
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| Country: | Mexico
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| Company: | Lux Pirotecnia, S.A. de C.V.
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| Theme: | Siente México: Feel Mexico
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| Designer: | Jorge M. Márquez
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| Website: | www.luxpirotecnia.com
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| Past and future values come together in a program full of joy. A musical score that includes pre-hispanic sounds, music in the history of carnival celebrations, traditional sounds mixed with innovative rhythms, and some of the best Mexican known values, friendship and fraternity are present in this show with the purpose to make you feel a little part of Mexico.
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| Celebration Finale
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| Designer: | Jaroslav Štolba
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| The Celebration Finale is specially designed to pay tribute to the HSBC Celebration of Light competition. The 6-minute Celebration Finale will not include components from participating countries.
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[edit] Previous Years
Because of the change in sponsor, records are difficult to find before the year 2001.
| Winner: Spain
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| Company: | ?
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| Show Theme: | ?
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| Australia
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| Company: | ?
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| Show Theme: | ?
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| Italy
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| Company: | ?
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| Show Theme: | ?
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[edit] References
[edit] External links
