San Francisco Symphony remains the flagship of talkies-with-orchestra — films screened with the soundtrack performed by the full orchestra on stage, under the screen — but the highly successful series is also making an impact in a wider circle.
Just one example this summer: California Symphony presenting The Wizard of Oz with live orchestral accompaniment at Concord Pavilion on Aug. 21 — there will be more to come, assuredly. Presenters and audiences find the mixing of media attractive and economical.
Sarah Hatsuko Hicks leads the orchestra in the Harold Arlen-E.Y. “Yip” Harburg mother load of great tunes on the order of “Over the Rainbow,” “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead,” and so on. Both dialog and original vocal performances are preserved and enhanced, so they are part of the screening. The film’s restored images are accompanied by the orchestra playing new transcriptions of the music.
Hicks — born in Tokyo, raised in Honolulu, associated with the Minnesota Orchestra and busy guest conductor around the country — also leads S.F. Symphony film nights in Davies Hall.
The first series is J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek (the controversial reboot of the series), with Michael Giacchino's Grammy-winning score, on July 16, 17, and 20. Giacchino also wrote the music to Up, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and many more.
The symphony, so help me, says: "We’re encouraging patrons to dress in costume." Although Halloween is far away, the coincidence of the current Comic-Con International and Nerd Con a month away could be helpful in finding the right outfit in the closet.
There is no sequel (or costumes) involved at screenings of Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future, on July 18 and 19 — it's the original, marking the 30th anniversary this year. The composer, Alan Silvestri, will be the guest speaker at the screenings.
With 115 TV and film credits, Silvestri is among the most prolific of Hollywood composers, his scores range from 1970s Starsky and Hutch episodes to the last edition of the Night at the Museum series in 2014; among his best-known: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Bodyguard, Maid in Manhattan, and The Polar Express.