We’re just over a month away from the launch of the latest nighttime spectacular from Disney Live Entertainment, “Luminous The Symphony of Us,” debuting Dec. 5 at EPCOT. Featuring dazzling fireworks, fountains, lights and music to connect us all through commonalities of the heart, this all-new show shines a light on how each of our unique melodies comes together to form a great symphony – the symphony of us.
Much like a beautiful piece of music, “Luminous The Symphony of Us” is made up of a series of movements, each representing life experiences that we have in common, showing us that we’re more alike than we are different. Punctuating these movements are two original songs written just for the spectacular, as well as new arrangements of carefully selected Disney songs we all know and love.
At the start of the show, World Showcase comes to life as we hear voices from each pavilion welcoming us to this great gathering. With the tap of a conductor’s baton, our first movement begins with the original song, “Heartbeat Symphony.” For me, nothing says EPCOT nighttime spectacular like a sweeping ballad, and this one comes for you right out of the gate.
Check out this behind-the-scenes look at some of the music recording sessions for “Luminous The Symphony of Us,” including a sneak preview of “Heartbeat Symphony.”
With the stage set, our symphony takes us to the tender love of parenthood, highlighting childhood moments where each of our journeys began and featuring a stirring, multilingual arrangement of “You’ll Be in My Heart.” The symphony then transitions to “Proud Corazón” as we find our voice in a movement dedicated to the bonds of family. Friendship follows, with classic songs like “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” and “Friend Like Me” taking us back to the days of recess and friendship bracelets.
Set to a sweeping arrangement of “So Close,” a personal favorite hidden gem from Disney’s “Enchanted,” the romance movement celebrates the moments when we find someone with whom our melody blends.
Inevitably in life, we experience the quiet loneliness of loss, but as “When She Loved Me” and “Remember Me” bring us “Into the Unknown,” the echoes of those around us remind us that we’re never truly alone. As we come out of the darkness, the music crescendos to “I See the Light” from “Tangled,” launching us into our finale – and our second original song, entitled “Beating of our Hearts” – where we all come together as one and find our place in the great symphony of life.
As you can probably tell, music plays a critical role in telling this tale. That’s why the team at Disney Live Entertainment is so excited to work with Pinar Toprak once again on the show’s incredible score. You may know Pinar from her work on film soundtracks or heard her EPCOT anthem at night by Spaceship Earth. Among the choir of voices lending their vocal talents to the score are singer/songwriter Sheléa and the multi-talented Katharine McPhee.
As someone whose Disney career began in World Showcase, it’s hard to express how much the EPCOT nighttime spectaculars mean to me. I hope this first look makes you as excited as I am to share this new symphony together when it debuts Dec. 5– part of the grand finale as we near the completion of the multi-year transformation of EPCOT.
Comments
For anyone who has seen the new Luminous show at Epcot, is there a particular place that has the best viewing – front of the park, American pavilion, anywhere? We are headed to Epcot in January.
I’m willing to give this one a shot – it can’t be as bad as Harmonious (can it?). Shoving Disney/Pixar IP into the nighttime shows and attractions might be great and on-brand for MK, but not Epcot. This post makes it sound like the creative team learned this lesson, which Harmonious forgot with a vengeance, and is leaning back into the eternal world’s fair aspect that is the basis of Epcot.
“Celebrating parenthood with you’ll be in my heart” “celebrating friendship with friend like me and you’ve got a friend in me?”
That’s literally “Happily Ever After!” It’s a Magic Kingdom show, not EPCOT.
I’ll be there on the 5th, solely because of this show! I am unsure whether a new show should rely so much on unoriginal songs and music. I’m also curious as to how “friendship bracelets” and “parenthood” really fit with Epcot themes international coexistence, space exploration, technology, and the future – but I will wait and see. 🙂 If I were to wish for a new show, I would say make it all original music and songs and point towards 2050 and 2100 and beyond. Inspire people to treasure and save the planet, aim to explore the stars, and hope for an even better future.
Chase, you do know we are getting an I.P. free upgrade on “Test Track”, right?
This show is going to bomb just as bad as Harmonious. No one at Disney understands EPCOT. It’s very obvious with the recent additions all you want to do is stuff the park full of IP and not develop anything original. Nothing will ever top Illuminations, so until you hire Gavin Greenaway again to write a 2.0 to that show people are going to hate the nighttime shows here.
I’m intrigued.
Alas, gone are the days of truly-original show music…
Rivers of Light had a beautiful score, so did IllumiNations of course, and at least HarmonioUS while relying on IP it incorporated more-authentic instrumentation and languages. The LuminoUS description just sounds like another Disney shuffle playlist with very little mak ok bf it an “EPCOT” show. This description could be dropped in any park, anywhere.
This gave me chills, the way Illuminations used too. Very excited!
Sounds like EPCOT is getting a Momentous-style show. So excited for this.
It still won’t be as good as Illuminations.