Since the introduction of sound to movies, the film’s music and score have become an essential part of the movie experience. When a score works well, it communicates that which is unspoken, it tells us the mood, it foreshadows, it
Celebrating Classical Music Month with Exciting Page Turners
As part of our ongoing celebration of Classical Music Month in September, we’ve pulled together a list of books that commemorate the great composers of the past through to the celebrated contemporary composers of today. Then we’ve sprinkled in some
Happy Birthday, Maestro John Williams!
2022 is a milestone year. Not only are we celebrating Maestro Williams’ 90th birthday, but it also marks the 70th anniversary of the first film score he ever worked on.
Interview: John Williams
(Here’s an interview with composer John Williams that I wrote for England’s Gramophone magazine back in 2005. Richard Kaufman conducts Pacific Symphony in Williams’s Oscar-winning score to “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” for a screening of the film Saturday night. Tickets here.) By
Scoring ‘E.T.’
Here’s an interesting short documentary (10 minutes) on the making of the film score (by John Williams) to Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” Williams and Spielberg have made 23 films together by my count, with at least one more in
Pacific Overtures: August
The latest edition of our newsletter, with concert info, news, interviews, listening, links and more. Pacific Overtures. August, 2018.
Pacific Symphony: August concerts
Pops conductor Richard Kaufman returns to the podium this month to conduct the orchestra in a live-to-picture performance of John Williams’ score to Steven Spielberg’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” on Aug. 18 at the Pacific Amphitheater. Williams won the Oscar for
Meet Michael Clive, Pacific Symphony’s program annotator
By Erica Sharp “Sometimes as a joke I refer to myself as ‘your intrepid annotator,’” said Michael Clive, longtime program note writer for Pacific Symphony, in an interview last week. He had just arrived back at his Connecticut home and
Miscellany
An inside look at James Levine’s lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera…. The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony have a new contract, negotiated without rancor…. John Williams’ next “Star Wars” film will be his last…. Here’s a fresh idea for a
‘Harry Potter’ comes to O.C. courtesy of home-grown conductor
By TIMOTHY MANGAN Only a handful of people will know the answer to the following bit of extreme trivia: Who is the only musician born and raised in Orange County to have conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra,