Preview: "Houston Symphony to pay tribute to John Williams at The Pavilion"

The Courier (Houston) has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming performance of an all-John Williams program with the Houston Symphony on Tuesday, June 7.

Conductor Brett Mitchell will lead the symphony in selections from “Star Wars”, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, “Schindler’s List”, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and other works....

Mitchell said Williams’ music is an “enormous” amount of fun to play but also “incredibly” challenging from a technical perspective. He said the orchestra will play tens of thousands of notes, requiring significant stamina from the brass musicians as Williams writes “demanding” music for the section.

“For many of us, the music we’ll play was the gateway to the larger world of orchestral music of Beethoven, Mahler, and Stravinsky we’ve chosen to devote our lives to performing,” Mitchell said.

A concert of music from film is about reliving familiar—even favorite—movies in a new way, Mitchell said. Without the dialogue, sound effects and picture, individuals can focus on the melodies.

“A master composer like Williams perfectly captures the emotion and drama of every picture he scores, so listening and to that music by itself can make for a more emotional experience,” he said. “All you need is a sense of adventure, an appetite for fun, and an open mind to let the music transport you, even to a galaxy far, far away.”

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