Sir Elton John and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra have provided musical accompaniment for British dressage rider Richard Davison. Triple Olympian Davison obtained a new freestyle for his Grand Prix horse Artemis (aka Foto Tyme, by Florestan)
with music by Sir Elton John played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Richard, who was Britain’s Dressage Team’s captain at the recent Beijing Olympic Games said ‘I still can’t really believe it. To have the musical genius of Elton John and the RLPO behind our freestyle is mind-blowing. The music is breathtakingly beautiful and features two of Elton’s most famous songs ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ and ‘I’m still standing’’.
Dressage freestyle composer Joost Peters, from Holland, was commissioned to arrange the programme. The arrangement is timed and choreographed to match every footfall of Davison’s exciting horse ‘Artemis’. The 9 year old gelding is exceptionally talented and is being aimed at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Recording of the bespoke programme, entitled ‘Artemis in Motion’ took place last month in the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, Europe’s current Capital of Culture. Under international conductor Clark Rundell, seventy classical musicians took painstaking care to achieve perfect synchronisation with the choreography.
The project was the brainchild of Artemis’s joint owner The Countess of Derby, whose husband is the President of The RLPO. The Foundation for Sport and the Arts provided valuable financial support.
The first public rehearsal of the programme is planned during Davison’s dressage demonstrations at the Your Horse Live exhibition held at the National Agricultural Centre, Coventry on 8th November. It is planned that Richard and Artemis will then debut the finished freestyle at the forth coming London Olympia Horse Show held on 17th December in the Grand Hall Olympia.
Related Links
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Richard Davison, 2003 British Dressage Champion with Ballaseyr Royale