Documentary, Music
Celebrate this Holiday season with Handel’s cherished classic, Messiah. Handel’s 300-year-old music masterpiece endures to this day, performed annually in over 200 live venues around the world – both at Easter and Christmas. Lost Treasure: Handel’s Messiah in Bethlehem is the two-hour documentary about the “impossible” unprecedented and unduplicated concert filmed in the very church where Christ was born.
Illuminated with 60 stunning 4K scenes of the Holy Land together with 20 painted masterworks of Biblical significance, Handel’s Messiah celebrates, the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many of the songs within Messiah are Holiday classics that have been enjoyed around the world for nearly 300 years! It was Conductor, Maestro Francisco de Araujo’s dream to take this masterpiece to the next level and conduct Messiah in the1700-year-old Nativity Church in Bethlehem.
On November 14,1994 Francisco realized his dream after the Holy See granted him the first ever permission to perform live music in the Nativity Church. This historic event was taped in a remarkable co-production of Israeli and Palestinian television crews. Nearly lost amid the tumult of war, Messiah is a treasure no longer lost. Interviews with the artists who produced the concert recount the ten-year struggle to get permission to perform in the Nativity Church as well as the drama of the Israeli military wanting to cancel the concert for fear of a terrorist attack. This remarkable concert celebrates the unifying power of music for peace. Messiah is a priceless gift for us all this Holiday season.
Length: 122 Minutes