I can't begin to explain to those who do not know what the Glastonbury Classical Extravaganza is without the use of pictures. Many more will be familiar with its older sibling The Glastonbury Festival down the road at the Eavis' family farm in Pilton. The Classical Extravaganza takes place in the grounds of the abbey in Glastonbury town itself. The only true comparison is the recent Baz Luhrman film "Moulin Rouge" but it is still somewhat more tasteful and simultaneously Extravagant even than this. Some of the best orchestras, soloists, choirs and bands come to the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey and play classical music. Also it is highly extravagant. The computer controlled water shows and firework displays are multiply - breathtaking, and extraordinarily extravagant.
	The Yeovil Town Band initiated the music with an excellent set of courageous repertoire which showed them to be a fine example of good European town band tradition. The standard was exceptional and they certainly deserved the position on the large stage that would host many fine performances over the course of the eveing.
For more information you can visit the Yeovil Town Band Website. The extravagance continues into the audience, where it may be as common to see laid dinner tables with champagne as it is to see picnic-ers with strawberries and bubbly. Somehow it seems that the slightly more mature audience, than at Worthy Farm, has got a lesson or two to teach about how to enjoy the outdoors!
The setting of the abbey is just perfect for the music. The expertise developed at Glastonbury Festival delivers an event which goes to make so many other similar events seem like a village fete. Thousands of happy groups of friends and families, with roughly equal representation of every generation, find a spot to enjoy their day out. For the amount of entertainment on offer the ticket price seems very reasonable. There were rumours from one outlet that the event would not happen at all, due to the huge loss the event makes; I like to believe, though nothing is ever certain, that in pure fun value the 2002 event ensured many future successes. The production management of Dick Tee deserves special mention as the atmosphere created is one of rock and roll largesse to match The Rolling Stones and great stadium acts, but with the village feel and an exhilarating and ground breaking combination with classical music. Through the direction of Andrew Fiddler, with site management by Bob St Barbe supported by a team of hundreds including companies "Light and Visual Production", "Pains Fireworks", "Dragonfire", "Aquatique Show International" as well as many volunteers and crew members the event passed without flaw. The contribution of Mendip District Council, the emergency services, the trustees of the abbey, the Glastonbury Festivals team and too many to name make this a huge success. It is funny to see the same fertile collaborations that bring the festival together produce such an outwardly different event.
As people start to enjoy the music many brightly coloured and iluminated wearable items are sold to the crowd. As well as what people have brought themselves there is also an array of food and drink on sale.
As night began to fall the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra took to the stage. The orchestra, formed in 1987, have played a wide variety of engagements - Last Night of the Proms to Children in Need - and with many celebrity artists - from Charlotte Church; Julian Lloyd-Weber, Burt Bacharach, Jose Carreras, Evelyn Glennie to Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder. Tonight they were appearing with with world renowned composer, conductor and music producer David Arnold and Pendryrus Male Voice Choir who are veterans of prestigious festivals, international tours, and pop, film and classical recordings originating from the world famous Rhonda Valley.
	The soloists Helen Williams and Justin Lavender sang respectively Soprano and Tenor solos. Speaking for myself Helen Williams changed my mind entirely about classical singing. Previously it was an art I found impenetrable but her warmth and emotion won me to a genre I have never before liked. Mr Lavender has developed a well deserved reputation for his performances of Mozart, but his performances tonight showed his full range of talent.
	The first half of the night's main programme was Walton- Crown Imperial; Prokoviev- Montagues and Capulets; Verdi - Bandit Chorus from Ernani; Dvorak- Song to the Moon from Rusalka; Tchaikovsky- Waltz of the Flowers; Shostakovich- Festival Overture; Puccini- Un Bel Di and Butterly Duet from Madame Butterly; Verdi- Slaves Chorus from Nabucco; Grainger - Country Gardens; Holst- March and Fantasia on the Dargason from A Hampshire Suite.
After the interval we were treated to Bizet- March of the Toreadors, Toreadors Song, Je Dus Que Rien and The Flower Song from Carmen; Sibelious- Intermezzo and March from Kareila Suite; Suppe- Overture Light Cavalry;
Arne- Rule Brittania; Parry- Jerusalem; Elgar Pomp and Circumstance No 1; Puccini- Nessun Dorma from Turandot; Handel- La Rejouissance from Music for the Royal Fireworks. In this second half the lights, water features and fireworks were quite simply beyond anything I had ever seen before. The whole abbey came alive with light in every direction you could see. .
I can't begin to do it justice in photographs. This is only a poor taste compared to experiencing it for yourself. Not so much putting the "eeehhh-aaaaarghhh" back into fireworks displays as adding the thermo-nuclear explosion.
The water displays were amazing, sending jets of illuminated water in to the air literally dancing to the music. This was more comparable to the spectrum analyzer you see on computer displays than to what I have previously seen in computer contolled water displays, and I think I counted three of them!! As I may have mentioned before, it was highly extravagant.
There were two things that stunned me next after the fireworks started. The first was that on the very last note of the piece, I believe it was Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance but a combination of the excitement and the wine I had consumed lead me to be unsure, the final DAAA-DUUMMMM!!!!!!!!!! This amazing explosion of blue and yellow concentric circles of energy fired above my head in light waves and sound waves and the synching was literally perfect from where I stood. When the LIVE orchestra hit that final note the first ball of light errupted; fanned out into the circles pictured right; rippled away as the sound ended. It was perfect.
Or at least that's exactly how I remember it. Honest. The second thing that then amazed me was that there were then two further fireworks displays interspersed with the largest number of people I have ever communally sung with. The second closest was about 5000 people singing along to the Jungle Book at the outside cinema stage #i wanna be like you-uu-whoo, talk like you etc.#, that was amazing at the outside cinema screen at my first ever Glastonbury Festival in I think 1992. But this seemed like more... As my friend said to me ( the one pouring us all a glass of wine in the picture above - so a good friend as you can see ! ) said "It just doesn't ever get any better than this"....
	One firework that didn't quite appear to go to plan was one of those set-piece graphic type things of a St George's cross that I guess was a logical step forward from the flags we got used to in the world cup earlier this summer. But only half of it fired, I'm sure nothing can be read into this. But then the whole thing exploded into a giant catherine wheel that fired a red and white cross literally into the sky; my picture of this is to the left.
There is only one way to conclude this. That is to say simply classical simply extravagant This was my first year I now understand why so many people come every year.
Words & Pictures: John C Scott With help from Jessica Webb, Ben Evans, Dick Vernon, Alf Goodrich, Mark Thomas, Kodak and betterthanyouthink.com