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Rick Wakeman to perform The New Gospels at Rochester Cathedral in June
By Dan Wooding
ROCHESTER, UK (ANS) -- Rick Wakeman, the legendary keyboardist with the British super-group, YES, will again be performing his magnificent oratorio on the life of Christ called The New Gospels in Rochester Cathedral, England’s second oldest cathedral, on Friday June 9th at 8pm.
Poster for Rick's performance at Rochester Cathedral
Rick will be joined by Ramon Remedios (Tenor) and Garfield Morgan (Narration) and The English Chamber Choir under the direction of Guy Protheroe.
Wakeman, who many believe is the world’s greatest rock keyboardist, has been a Christian since his childhood when he was baptized and became a Sunday School teacher at South Harrow Baptist Church.
In a recent interview with ANS, he explained how he came to write The New Gospels.
“It all started when I moved to Camberley in Surrey,” he began. “We had becomes friends with the minister of the United Reformed Church and it transpired his church was a little short in their fund for a new organ and so I was asked if I would do an evening in the church to raise a bit more money towards the cause.
“I wanted it to be a bit different so set about writing four pieces. One piece based on each of the four Gospels.
“I wrote the music and realized that it would need a classical tenor to sing them and so contacted Ramon who I had seen pe rform in London a few weeks previously. He asked to hear the music, which I sent him. He said he really liked it and we got together and rehearsed and then did the charity evening at the church.
“After the performance Ramon and I had dinner and he asked me what was going to happen now. I asked him what he meant and he said, ‘Well it can't finish here. Are you going to record it or what’? I replied that there wasn't enough music for a recording and so he said, ‘Write some more then’.
“So I did. I wrote four pieces for each of the four Gospels and then we recorded all the music. For me though, because of the very low budget we had, I was never happy with the resulting recording but already churches and cathedrals were asking for performances and so I let it run and in fact we did quite a few performances including a televised special of a live performance recorded in an outdoor amphitheatre in Caesarea, Israel, in 1988.
“Eventually though I was so dissatisfied with how the live performances sounded, I stopped doing them. I knew it needed a complete re-write and said to myself that one day I would get around to doing it.
“This all changed when my good friend Roy Castle called. Roy was dying of cancer and had started a wonderful fund to build a cancer hospital and research centre in Liverpool. He asked me if I would perform The Gospels at Liverpool Cathedral for the charity. I apologized and said I didn't perform it anymore as it needed completely re-writing and didn't have the time to do this. He replied that ‘I had a lot more time than he did!’ We were great friends and I felt very humbled by this.
“I took three months off and did nothing but work on the re-write. Roy had passed away by the time we did the performance in front of 3,000 people packed into the cathedral....3001 actually, as I know Roy was there in spirit.”
I then asked Wakeman why he felt that the message of Christ was so important in these days with so much violence going on in the world.
He replied, “I just want people to see Christians as real people, and faith as something that is very real. Sadly some Christians tend to be their own worse enemy. The devil doesn't have to do anything these days. I heard a guy say recently, ‘Christians do all the work for him!’
“I want to show that I am normal with a God given gift...just like everyone else in this world and that the Church does have something to offer to communities and individuals alike.
Wakeman has since performed The New Gospels hundreds of time in some of Britain’s most famous cathedrals and churches and also in the United States when he performed it in several Southern California churches as a benefit for ASSIST Ministries.
Cover of Dan Wooding's book about Rick Wakeman
Tickets for the Rochester performance are available from the Visitor Information Centre on +44 (0) 1634 843666 or the Cathedral Shop on +44 (0) 1634 811445. For an additional £5 (sterling) you can attend an after show reception to meet the performers.
Rochester Cathedral has a history of over 1,400 years of worship, history and architecture. It has glorious Norman architecture in the Nave and Crypt, and one of the finest Romanesque facades in the country. Among its many treasures is the magnificent 14th century Chapter Library door.
The first real fresco in an English cathedral for over 800 years was dedicated in 2004 and is on view in the north nave transept. The size and richness of this narrative painting by Sergei Fyodorov has drawn many visitors.
===>Click headline to access Rick Wakeman’s website . . .
Note: Some years ago, Dan Wooding wrote Rick Wakeman’s biography. Called Rick Wakeman – the Caped Crusader, it carried a foreword by Elton John. The book is now out of print but is regularly offered on eBay.
Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com. (Photo of Dan Wooding: Raul Gonzalez)
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