Tucson Symphony Orchestra is streaming the 1981 Steven Spielberg blockbuster “Raiders of the Lost Ark” this weekend at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
It is the first of two so-called cineconcerts on the orchestra’s 2023-24 season lineup. The second will take place in April when Fox Tucson Theatre teams up with the TSO to present Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights.” Chaplin composed the score for the 1931 silent film.
The orchestra has been doing cineconcerts for years as a way to bring new audiences into the symphony. Recent films have included “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” “Coco” and the 1961 Mario Bava cult film “Hercules In the Haunted World.” A movie’s soundtrack seems to resonate on a whole other level when an orchestra performs it live.
When the soundtrack is composed by John Williams, that music becomes its own character.
Williams, the godfather of American film composing with 25 Grammys, five Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards and four Golden Globe Awards, is the most decorated film composer of all time. His music has graced the biggest and best films that have come out in the last 70 years, from the “Star Wars” films to “Harry Potter,” “Jaws” to “Schindler’s List,” “Jurassic Park” to “Home Alone.”
Williams has a singular voice to his film composing that is on full display in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” from the bold brass blasts in the “Raiders March” to the cinematic and thrilling tension of “Desert Chase,” the famous truck chase scene.
Conner Gray Covington makes his Tucson conducting debut in performances at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15, at Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $15-$75 through tucsonsymphony.org.
