To the individuals who believe the world is divided into “Those Who Enjoy Classical Music” and “Me,” think again.
Did your heart jump when Indiana Jones swung onto the screen and saved the day? Did you smile when Harry Potter entered Hogwarts’ Great Hall for the first time?
The music accompanying those scenes shaped the mood of the film and the moods of the viewers. And it’s classical music, whether you ever thought of it that way or not.
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has two upcoming concerts this spring that will feature music scores from film and television. While the images play on a large movie screen, NJSO will accompany “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Warner Bros. Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.”
The symphony performed “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in January and “Back to the Future” at Radio City Music Hall in 2015. It’s part of a larger cultural trend that has seen symphonies perform the scores to such less obviously populist works like “There Will Be Blood,” “The Tree of Life,” and the current “Moonlight,” which the popular Wordless Music Orchestra performed in Los Angeles in January.
“It’s a new way to bring people into the live classical music experience,” said Gabriel van Aalst, NJSO’s President and CEO. “People don’t realize, especially with Bugs Bunny, how much classical music is involved in these productions.”
The symphony has increased this brand of cinema-centric programming in the last few years. While NJSO used movie scenes to accompany its performances as early as 1977, the first concert dedicated completely to a single film was “Casablanca” during the 2012-13 season. The symphony did another single concert in 2013-14, “The Wizard of Oz,” before performing two such performances each in the two seasons that followed. This year NJSO scheduled four film/TV based productions.
The performances fill seats, van Aalst said.
“We try to serve the entire community and this is one way to give back by doing live music,” he said. “There’s a momentum around these shows, and we’re looking to grow these types of performances while still offering a classical season.”
NJSO isn’t the only traditional orchestra to realize the power and popularity of such shows. The New York Philharmonic regularly hosts “The Art of the Score” concerts which feature a movie — recent shows have included “Amadeus” and “West Side Story” — on a large screen accompanied by the live orchestra. The Philadelphia Orchestra offers “Let’s go hear a movie,” and in past years have performed the music from “Gladiator” and “Star Trek Into Darkness” as the films rolled.
“Everyone’s recognized that the audiences love it and the musicians love it. All orchestras have come to that conclusion independently,” van Aalst said. “It doesn’t hurt that the music is great, too.”
American composer John Williams, who has created some of the most memorable scores in modern film history, is a popular choice for such events. Besides the first three “Harry Potter” films, Williams brought the world the music of music of the Indiana Jones series, “Jaws,” “Star Wars” and “Superman.”
“This is our generation’s classical music,” van Aalst said. “John Williams’ (scores) are among the most popular music in our canon.”
(In addition to two performances of the score in New Jersey, the symphony — conducted by Justin Freer — will repeat the program on March 31 and April 1 at Radio City Music Hall.)
And while Carl Stalling isn’t a household name, his compositions for classic Warner Brothers’ cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny and other characters are familiar to millions. Between 1938 and 1958, Stalling scored 600 cartoons, Colorado Public Radio noted in a 2015 story.
“Which American composer introduced classical music to the most kids? If you said Leonard Bernstein and his Young People’s Concerts, I’d argue he comes in at a distant No. 2 behind Carl Stalling,” CPR reported.
NJSO’s Bugs Bunny program will include about 14 cartoons and scenes, including classics like “What’s Opera, Doc?” and “Baton Bunny.” Bugs won’t be conducting himself, as if he does in the great “Baton Bunny” — instead George Daughtry, who created the program with David Ka Lik Wong, will do the honors.
And to people who fall into the “Those Who Enjoy Classical Music” category and are inclined to dismiss these productions, van Aalst urges them to reconsider.
“Anyone with doubts should come to one of these experiences and see how powerful and how great they are,” he said. “I think people who love classical music want to see other people fall in love with classical music and they understand this is an accessible and enjoyable way to introduce it.”
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in concert
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, March 11, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets: $29-89, available online at www.njsymphony.org
Warner Bros Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony
New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark. June 3, 8 p.m.
State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick. June 4, 3 p.m.
Tickets: $15- 90, available online at www.njsymphony.org.
Natalie Pompilio is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She can be reached at nataliepompilio@yahoo.com. Find her on Twitter @nataliepompilio. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
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