Hollywood Night

Arrival

Greetings readers!

Last night was the Hollywood Night at the Symphony Under the Sky Festival. As predicted, it was packed! There were barely any spots of unclaimed grass seating so it was a fantastic seeing so many people there.

The program began with Hollywood film music from "E.T's Flying Theme," "Beauty and the Beast Suite," "Pirates of the Caribbean," (which I think was my favorite due to it's boisterous nature),  and the suite from "Batman." It's been a while since I've heard the Danny Elfman "Batman" theme and I still got that creepy vibe when the joker's demented waltz came on. Other evening highlights included the "Unchained Melody" and "The Wizard of Oz Suite," which I could hear audience members humming along to, and the gorgeously moving "Godfather" movie theme. One of the best parts of the evening? Seeing the audience so quiet and still while listening to the Godfather Theme.

Audience

There were also some unprogrammed highlights during the evening which included an impromptu guest appearance by Al Simmons who, complete with a handheld set of audience captions, urged the audience to "sing along" in advertisement for his concert on Sunday afternoon. At the end of the evening, I had my fingers crossed for an encore, which is traditionally expected at the Hollywood night of the festival, but I wasn't sure if they were going to bust out the Star Wars costumes and theme song as they have done in past years. This year they mixed it up with some Harry Potter "Hedwig's Theme" instead. You can do no wrong starting and ending the evening with John Williams.

Evening Sky

In the meantime, do check out the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra website for more details (there is another concert this Sunday afternoon and evening) and I will report back here after the final festival concert on Monday afternoon.

Until then, take care readers!