- Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs John Williams’ score from A New Hope live to picture, conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos
Detroit, (September 6, 2018) – Later this month, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present three performances of Star Wars: A New Hope Live in Concert, featuring screenings of the complete film with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live.
Fans will be able to experience the scope and grandeur of the beloved original Star Wars film—A New Hope—in a live symphonic concert experience, as Star Wars: A New Hope Live in Concertdebuts Friday, September 28 at 8 p.m., Saturday, September 29 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, September 30 at 3 p.m. at Orchestra Hall.
The concerts will be led by conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos.
Tickets are available now for all three concerts. See below for more ticket information.
Since the release of the first Star Wars movie over 40 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects, and iconic musical scores composed by Williams.
The concerts will take place just before the kickoff of the 2018-2019 DSO season. Learn more about the entire season at dso.org. They also come one week after the DSO performs the score to another sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, on Friday, September 21 presented by UMS and Michigan Engineering at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor.
The Star Wars: Film Concert Series is produced under license by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox and Warner/Chappell Music.
STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © & TM Lucasfilm Ltd.
About John Williams
Legendary composer Williams is well known for scoring all eight of the Star Wars saga films, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Original Score. His scores for The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and most recently Star Wars: The Last Jedi each were nominated for Oscars for Best Original Score.
Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards, and 23 Grammy Awards. With 51 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second most-nominated individual in history, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams’ score to 1977’s Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to Star Wars also was preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl’s Hall of Fame in 2000, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. Williams has composed the scores for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).
About Constantine Kitsopoulos
Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera, symphony, musical theatre, and film with live orchestra. He regularly conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Royal Albert Hall, and has served as music director/conductor for musical theatre productions on Broadway.
The 2017-2018 season marks Kitsopoulos’ ninth as music director of the Festival of the Arts BOCA where he has worked with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang, the Russian National Orchestra, and many others. He was artistic director of the OK Mozart Festival from 2013-2015 and spent eight years as music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra. Kitsopoulos founded Chatham Opera in 2005 and has recently become General Director of the New York Grand Opera. With those two companies he is developing a series of semi-staged opera productions to be presented in the summer of 2019.
Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the New York Pops, and many others. The 2018-2019 season will see Maestro Kitsopoulos’ return to the New York Philharmonic and his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestrsa.
Also in demand as a theater conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide, Kitsopoulos has been music director and conductor of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Broadway and of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical revival featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis which ran until September 2012. He is co-composer of a new music theatre piece called Temple, based on the life of Temple Grandin, and is in the process of composing a new opera, with a libretto by Evangelia Kingsley, entitled Holy Week.
Kitsopoulos studied conducting with Gustav Meier, Sergiu Comissiona, Semyon Bychkov, and his principal teacher, Vincent La Selva.
Ticket Information
Tickets for STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE In Concert begin at $50 and can be purchased at dso.org, by calling the Box Office at (313) 576-5111, or in-person at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit).
About Disney Concerts
Disney Concerts is the concert production and licensing division of Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company. Disney Concerts produces concerts and tours, and licenses Disney music and visual content to symphony orchestras and presenters on a worldwide basis. Disney Concerts’ concert packages include a variety of formats, such as “live to picture” film concerts and themed instrumental and vocal compilation concerts, and range from instrumental-only symphonic performances to multimedia productions featuring live vocalists and choir. Current titles include the Star Wars: Film Concert Series (Episodes IV-VII), Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Fantasia, Pixar In Concert, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice In Wonderland, Frozen, Ratatouille, The Pirates of the Caribbean series (Episodes I-IV), and Silly Symphonies, which last year collectively accounted for over 400 performances in many of the world’s top concert venues, including Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Forum, and the Hollywood Bowl. Numerous new concert packages and touring productions from Disney’s portfolio of studios, including Disney’s feature animation and live action studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, are currently in development.
About the DSO
Hailed by the New York Times as “cutting edge,” the internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and an ardent commitment to Detroit. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the institution. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the DSO’s 12th Music Director, endowed by the Kresge Foundation, in 2008. The 2017-2018 Season marked Slatkin’s tenth and final year in the role, and in 2018-2019 he returns as Music Director Laureate. Acclaimed conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik serves as Principal Pops Conductor, while celebrated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the Detroit community, the DSO’s performance schedule includes Classical, Pops, Jazz, Young People’s, and Neighborhood concerts, and collaborations with high profile artists from Steven Spielberg to Ben Folds and Lang Lang. In July 2017, the DSO embarked on its first international tour in 16 years, making its debut in China and first visit to Japan in 19 years. A commitment to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast, and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series, which also reaches tens of thousands of children with the Classroom Edition expansion. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.