Inception Reflection

The creativity of Pacific Symphony musicians knows no bounds. The orchestra’s Principal Trumpet Barry Perkins keeps stretching his musical invention and filmmaking skills above and beyond. In fact, if there were Academy Awards for music videos, Perkins’ latest might be in the running. His video “Inception Reflection” pays homage to the 2010 science fiction action thriller “Inception,” directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  

The video opens with Perkins acting in two roles, evoking the surrealistic mood and ambiguous color palette of the movie’s beginning where DiCaprio sits across the table from his benefactor, Saito, played by Ken Watanabe. This becomes the starting point for a brilliant mosaic video that features Pacific Symphony’s intrepid principal trumpet and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Principal Trumpet Michah Wilkinson playing original music by Perkins.

In describing the piece, Perkins says, “I used the basic beginning chordal structure from Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack, but the rest is an original composition with influences from Telemann, especially when the piccolo trumpet enters.” Perkins has gotten a lot of positive feedback from all over the country. He commented, “There is even a university in Florida that is using the video as a listen/watch assignment.”

“Inception Reflection” is a thought-provoking video, especially in the middle of a global pandemic when reality can, at times, seem like a dream and dreams can be even more unreal than usual.