New Handel's Water Music to be written for Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Ten contemporary British composers are recreating Handel's Water Music for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Saturday June 3.

The new suite, which is expected to be 50 minutes in length, will be performed by a 15-piece ensemble on a floating barge as part of a 1000-boat flotilla travelling from Putney to Tower Bridge.

Ten composers have been chosen to each write a 5-minute movement inspired by the original titles of Handel's Water Music. The chosen composers are Anne Dudley, Graham Fitkin, Gavin Greenaway, Christopher Gunning, Adrian Johnston, John Lunn, Julian Nott, Jocelyn Pook Stephen Warbeck and Debbie Wiseman.

The 'New Water Music' barge is one of ten music barges, each marking a different section of the flotilla. Highlights across the different barges include a floating bell tower called the Royal Jubilee Bells, musicians from the Academy of Ancient Music, brass bands, fanfares and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by David Parry playing a host of patriotic and pastoral anthems by composers including Thomas Arne, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten, Eric Coates, Sir Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst and Sir William Walton.

The flotilla is the highlight of what is set to be a spectacular Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, which is expected to include 20,000 participants on the water and millions of spectators on the banks.