NEW ORLEANS (AP) - More than a thousand people turned out for a classical music concert in New Orleans surrounded by literally a lake full of water.
Shrimp boat passed behind the strings on a barge as New Orleans Airlift and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performed Yotam Haber’s “New Water Music” Saturday on Lake Ponchartrain (PONCH-uh-trane), the Times-Picayune (https://bit.ly/2nRL2fh) reported.
More than 100 amateur musicians from around south Louisiana participated.
Haber (HAH-behr) took the stage in a flowing cape held aloft by two assistants dressed as mer-people, as he climbed onto an iron platform with garlands of seashells and beads.
Haber, an Israeli who teaches music composition at the University of New Orleans, originally thought his “New Water Music” - a play on the suites composed by George Frideric Handel for King George I’s barge trip down the Thames in 1717 - as a piece for a small number of musicians to perform on the banks of Bayou St. John, which runs next to New Orleans’ City Park.
He also wanted to highlight the importance of water in New Orleans and Louisiana.
Haber asked Delaney Martin, artistic director of New Orleans Airlift, a collaborative dedicated to building bridges among diverse artists and communities, to join in the effort.
This version of Haber’s work, because it was performed on water, required the assistance of the Coast Guard and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
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