Quppa

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Singapore? Only a few more hours on the plane and he could be in Australia (I can dream). Seriously, though - I'll be booking flights if it really happens.

It's very encouraging that they sold out 2 concerts and shows there's a market beyond the (also successful) LTP performances. As much as I'd personally enjoy seeing celebratory concerts for composers like Thomas Newman, Michael Giacchino, John Powell, Clint Mansell or Alexandre Desplat, I suspect only Williams and Zimmer (and Joe Hisaishi, who has toured here twice) have the popularity to shift ~5,000 (not cheap) tickets.

The medleys were fun - half 'meet the orchestra' and half illustrating how the same musical features appear across the various love themes and flying themes.

Last night's concert was wonderful - adroitly hosted by Andrew Pogson (@PoggoAOTS) and Dan Golding and conducted by Nicholas Buc (hosts of the Art of the Score podcast), I think it was the best standalone presentation of John Williams' music I've had the pleasure of attending thanks to the quality of playing and the varied repertoire. It was also great value, lasting almost 3 hours (including the interval). The hall was full - excellent turnout on a very cold first day of winter in Melbourne. It would have been great to include a performance of the new Obi-Wan suite or TROS, but I guess that would be hoping for too much. The full programme ended up being the following (additions in bold): Superman: March Peter Gunn (excerpt) Fiddler on the Roof (excerpts) by Jerry Bock arr. Williams The Mission (excerpt) DreamWorks logo theme (harp replacing guitar) Call of the Champions (the Official Theme of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games) (with chorus) The Cowboys overture (excerpt) Jaws: The Shark Theme Close Encounters of the Third Kind (various 5 note permutations on different instruments) Raiders of the Lost Ark: March Love theme medley (arr. Nicholas Buc): Marion's Theme (excerpt, solo tuba), Princess Leia's Theme (excerpt, solo viola), Han Solo and the Princess (excerpt, solo timpani), Across the Stars (excerpt), Stars Wars (Main Title) (excerpt, brass section), The Imperial March (excerpt, brass section), The Raiders March (excerpt, brass section), Theme from Superman (excerpt, brass section), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (excerpt) Star Wars: A New Hope: Princess Leia’s Theme Home Alone: Somewhere In My Memory (with chorus) Jurassic Park: Theme (with chorus) Interval Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: Duel of the Fates (with chorus) Schindler’s List: Theme (the anecdote delivered by Nicholas Buc) Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen (with chorus) Catch Me If You Can: Closing In (solo saxophone, vibraphone, double bass) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Knight Bus Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Double Trouble (with chorus) Flying themes medley: Hedwig's Theme (excerpt), Flying (E.T.) (excerpt), Buckbeak's Flight (excerpt) Hook: Flight to Neverland Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Asteroid Field Star Wars: A New Hope: Throne Room and Finale Encore: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Imperial March Encore: Star Wars: A New Hope: Cantina Band #1

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is following up their free outdoor concert from earlier this year with two performances celebrating the maestro at the Hamer Hall together with the MSO Chorus this Wednesday and Thursday. The programme has mostly the usual greatest hits with a handful of rarer inclusions. I think I'm most excited about hearing Duel of the Fates live for the first time (still hoping we might see LTP concerts of the prequel trilogy one day - who cares about the quality of the movies themselves). The Music of John Williams A 90th Birthday Celebration 1 & 2 June / 7:30pm Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall Program Superman: March Fiddler on the Roof (excerpts) by Jerry Bock arr. Williams Call of the Champions (the Official Theme of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games) Jaws: The Shark Theme Raiders of the Lost Ark: March Star Wars: A New Hope: Princess Leia’s Theme Home Alone: Somewhere In My Memory Jurassic Park: Theme Interval Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: Duel of the Fates Schindler’s List: Theme Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen Catch Me If You Can: Closing In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Knight Bus Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Double Trouble Hook: Flight to Neverland Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Asteroid Field Star Wars: A New Hope: Throne Room and Finale Artists Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Nicholas Buc conductor Art of the Score hosts MSO Chorus Warren Trevelyan-Jones chorus director

Brett Mitchell has already done a nice piano cover. The connections to the Force Theme stand out to me in this arrangement.

Great turnout and lovely weather. 20220212_192224.heic 20220212_192314.heic

Bumping this since it's happening tomorrow.

I didn't realise Prisoner of Azkaban and Schindler's List had corrected pressings - any idea if La-La Land Records can still send out replacements for those of us who purchased the initial releases?

The full program has been published here - good to see The Olympic Spirit, The Witches of Eastwick and Memoirs of a Geisha in addition to the usual fare.

PSA for anyone in the Melbourne vicinity that one of the annual Sidney Myer Free Concerts next February will celebrate John Williams' 90th birthday (a few days late). Contingent on the city ever leaving lockdown. https://www.mso.com.au/performance/2022-sidney-myer-free-concerts#an-evening-of-john-williams An Evening of John Williams Saturday 12 February / 7.30pm Jessica Gethin conductor Celebrate John Williams’ 90th birthday with his greatest hits from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park and more. Program All works by John Williams Star Wars Suite: Main Title Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Suite: Hedwig's Theme The Witches of Eastwick: Devil's Dance Memoirs of a Geisha: Suite for Cello and Orchestra, The Chairman's Waltz E.T.: Adventures on Earth The Olympic Spirit Schindler's List: Theme Hook: Flight to Neverland Star Wars Suite: Yoda's Theme Star Wars Suite: Imperial March Jurassic Park: Theme

Yes, but I might have been lucky - I ordered mine on 2021-08-09, it was shipped on 2021-08-16 and it arrived on 2021-09-07. Incidentally, the tracking URL didn't work for me, but putting the tracking number into https://parcelsapp.com/ did.

That and some tracks on CD2 of Schindler's List looking like 128kbps MP3s.

(Pre-)ordered via Screen Archives which charges $16 for shipping to Australia compared to Intrada's $18 (albeit with a scary warning about not replacing lost packages).