FIREWORKS & HANDEL – A Laser Light Show at Grace Cathedral May 7th and 8th
The American Bach Soloists join the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys in tribute to George Frideric
Handel (1685-1759)
Fireworks Celebration inspired by spectacular 1784 commemorative performance held at Westminster
Abbey
The <a href="http://www.americanbach.org/"><strong>AMERICAN BACH
SOLOISTS</strong></a> (ABS) conclude their outstanding 20th Anniversary season with a grand
concert at Grace Cathedral to honor George Frideric Handel, one of the greatest composers of the late
Baroque period. To celebrate Handel’s life and music, American Bach Soloists will join The Grace Cathedral
Choir of Men and Boys, conducted by Canon Director of Music Jeffrey Smith. The program will include
some of George Frideric Handel’s finest choral works, along with the orchestral works Water Music and
Music for the Royal Fireworks. Click here for more information: <a href="
http://www.gracecathedral.org/music/overview/musicevents/detail/index.php?eid=1458"><strong>
HANDEL FIREWORKS CELEBRATION</strong></a>
<a href="http://www.americanbach.org/"><strong>AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS</strong></a>
[Insert photo: George Frideric Handel – Fireworks at Grace Cathedral]
For this performance, Maestro Jeffrey Thomas of ABS will conduct a large array of instruments assembled
especially for this event, including a drum corps in Georgian military costume. The drum corps will be
staged throughout the Cathedral to accentuate the dramatic force of Handel’s masterpiece. These
remarkable compositions, including the choir’s performance of the coronation anthem Zadok the Priest,
will resound perfectly in the architectural splendor of Grace Cathedral.
For the first time ever at Grace Cathedral – a live laser show replicating fireworks will be projected on
screens above and behind the orchestra during select portions of Music for the Royal Fireworks. The laser
light segment will be created by Greg Makhov, president of Lighting Systems Design, Inc. Makhov, an
industry innovator, has engineered new laser systems and has designed many shows, including the nightly
IllumiNations show at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center in Florida.
Handel’s music has been celebrated for centuries by countless performers and devotees of his unsurpassed
musical legacy. The Fireworks Celebration at Grace Cathedral is presented in the spectacular style of the
first commemorative event held in Westminster Abbey, London, in 1784, on the 25th anniversary of
Handel’s death.
[Insert photo: AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS]
The Fireworks Celebration crowns ABS’s extraordinary 20th Anniversary season. Their collaboration with
The Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys is an unprecedented musical and theatrical event that unites
two musical forces to commemorate the legacy of a Baroque master. This will be remembered as the
premier musical event of the season.
In the style of that famed event, Grace Cathedral's Choir of Men and Boys and American Bach Soloists will
collaborate in a pair of performances that will feature some of Handel’s finest choral works along with his
celebrated Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks. The Choir of Men and Boys, conducted by
Canon Director of Music Jeffrey Smith, will join the American Bach Soloists (ABS) in performances of
grand compositions, including Zadok the Priest, that resound perfectly in the architectural splendor of the
Cathedral. In addition, ABS conductor Jeffrey Thomas will lead an unusually huge array of instruments
assembled especially for this event, including a drum corps in Georgian military costume. Accomplished
soprano Abigail Haynes Lennox will be the soloist for Laudate, Pueri. Get ready – a live laser show
accompanies the Music for the Royal Fireworks.
Add these CDs to your Classical Library:
http://www.amazon.com/Handel-Water-Music-GeorgeFrederick/dp/B000003CXR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1241084142&sr=1-1
Charles Mackerras leads the Orchestra of St. Luke's.