Star Wars in Concert: “A Multimedia Masterpiece”

by Krystal Cooper | October 17, 2009

On Thursday October 8th, I felt pulled between two parallel musical universes. The first, Gusatvo Dudamel’s Inaugural concert with the LA Phil at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the second, the last night of Star Wars in Concert at the Nokia Theatre. It was a difficult decision for me since I am a John Williams and Star Wars Fan. After long deliberation and Gustavo’s concert having been sold out I went to hear conductor Dirk Brosse and the Star Wars Symphony Orchestra.

Vader on display

The evening was nothing short of a multimedia masterpiece. The music of John Williams mixed with Lasers and pyrotechnics made up for me not having a seat at the Dudamel Concert. I will admit that seeing the Darth Vader costume was exciting but they also had some of the original sheet music on display as well.

The crowd literally erupted when the first few bars of the Star Wars theme song were played. That song was one of the first pieces of music I wanted to play when taking flute lessons in school.

The true stars of the symphony were the members of the orchestra. Brosse and the orchestra did a phenomenal job of captivating and humoring the audience while Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) narrated the Star Wars saga. During the harpist solo you could have heard a pin drop. I imagine audiences at the Walt Disney Concert Hall shared a similar feeling of anticipation. My favorite pieces are from the “Mos Eisley Cantina “and the “Duel of Fates” also known as the Darth Maul theme.

At intermission I was tempted to sneak over to the Music Center to catch a glimpse of Dudamel in action. The performance was being telecast on plasma TV’s in several locations downtown for those who were not able to get a ticket to the sold out performance but I ended up taking part in a lively discussion about John William’s other film scores and light sabers.

The second half the show was equally enthralling. It was nice to see so many diverse fans and their families; every seat was filled with someone from age 2 to 72.

Afterwards I reflected on the experience and thought to myself, I really don’t hear musical scores like that anymore. I wondered was that a direct effect of arts and music education being cut from our schools and if so how can we develop the next generation of Williams and Gustavos with no arts programming?

I consider myself a seasoned patron of both performing and visual arts but I had not experienced music in that way before. It truly felt like an epic musical adventure. I hope to see more multi-media mashups between traditional art forms and technology in the future.