Handel: Water Music & Music for the Royal Fireworks

The Athens State Orchestra conducted by Markellos Chryssicos  presents on the Canal Stage a duo of emblematic works by Georg Friedrich Handel; two of the few classical pieces suitable to be performed outdoors.

The Water Music was written in 1717 in response to a request by George I of England for a concert to musically accompany an excursion up the River Thames: A barge containing 50 musicians performed the work, in tow with the royal barge hosting the king’s companions.

The Music for the Royal Fireworks was also written on commission, this time by George II, 32 years later, to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. It was first performed in London’s Green Park, while the rehearsal at Vauxhall Gardens a week before caused London’s first recorded traffic jam.

What more fitting then, from presenting the Water Music on Summer Nostos Festival’s stage over water, and performing the Music for the Royal Fireworks alongside show-stopping fireworks over the Stavros Niarchos Park?

Contributors
The Athens State Orchestra is the oldest orchestral ensemble in Greece, founded in the late 19th century as the Athens Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. An established presence on the Greek cultural scene, the orchestra performs over fifty concerts a year.

Markellos Chryssicos studied harpsichord with Margarita Dalmati at the Vignanelli School Athens, and graduated with distinction. He continued his studies in Paris with S. Romeo and O. Baumont, in Salzburg with K. Gilbert and S. Rampe and in Geneva with the late Ch. Jaccottet of whom he was the last student. A founding member of the baroque groups Ex Silentio and Latinitas Nostra.