Lights! Camera! ProMusica!
Top composers highlight orchestra’s tribute to the silver screen
by Chris Moore

ANTHEM – There’s nothing like a free concert. And everyone loves the movies. Put them together and you’re in for quite an evening. That’s ProMusica Arizona’s attitude as they open their new season with their first major orchestral concert, “Back to the Movies.”

Their performance will be held on Oct. 21 at the Desert View Bible Church on Carefree Highway in Phoenix. The volunteer orchestra will swell with majestic music from Hollywood and beyond in selections from famous film  soundtracks selected by ProMusica’s founder and artistic director Kevin Kocazek.

Veteran composer Danny Elfman, known for his collaborations with filmmaker Tim Burton, will supply a couple of the selections for the concert–the themes from “Spiderman” and “Mission Impossible.”

The Old West will be represented through the music of the Spaghetti Western maestro Ennio Morricone and his score for Sergio Leone’s classic “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” as well as Elmer Bernstein’s score for “The Magnificent Seven” and Dominic Frontiere’s evocative melodies from “Hang ‘em High.”

The orchestra will deal out some hip tunes from the world of  espionage in themes from various James Bond movies–John Barry’s glimmering “Goldfinger,” Bill Conti’s “For Your Eyes Only,” and Paul McCartney and Wings’ 1973 hit “Live and Let Die.”

Speaking of hits, the rollicking “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” score by Klaus Badelt, and the wind‑swept grandeur of “Dances With Wolves,” another soundtrack from composer John Barry, are sure to thrill the audience.

Music from the third chapter of director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” cycle, “Return of the King,” will be featured in the somber, symphonic majesty of Howard Shore’s original score, for which he won one of the film’s 11 Academy Awards in 2004. Shore scored all three “Rings” films.

In addition, ProMusica is paying tribute to legendary composer John Williams in a medley of music from “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Superman,” and the Indiana Jones and Harry Potter movies.

Jazzy numbers from Kander and Ebb’s “Chicago,” along with a few tunes from Alan Silvestri’s “Forrest Gump” soundtrack will round out the evening.

A PowerPoint presentation of images from the movies will be projected behind the orchestra to bring yet another dimension to the audio‑visual experience. 

“We’re very excited about our first collaboration outside the Anthem community,” says Connie Henry, president of ProMusica, “and we really hope that this new venue will work well for future events. We want to represent all of the North Valley, not just Anthem.”

ProMusica’s “Back to the Movies” plays at 6 p.m. on Oct 21, at Desert View Bible Church, 105 W. Carefree Highway in Phoenix. For information and tickets, call the church at (623) 298‑4900;  ProMusica at (623) 551‑8327; or visit www.desertviewbible.org or www. promusicaaz.org.

The “Back to the Movies” concert is free, but Promusica is encouraging a $5 donation per ticket.

Reach the reporter at cmoore @thedesertadvocate.com.