The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is making you an offer you can’t refuse.
The non-profit charity is presenting not one but two performances of its highly anticipated third concert of the 2024-25 season. Coming to life at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 1 and again at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 2, “Indiana Jones meets The Godfather” will immerse audiences at Showplace Performance Centre in the masterful scores of some of the most popular and recognizable films in the history of cinema.
“Both of these movies came out a long time ago and they’ve been ingrained in our culture,” says PSO music director and conductor Michael Newnham. “I’m interested in showing an audience and an orchestra how great the music actually is, when you take away the other things like the film and the images and you just listen to the music by itself.”
“Indiana Jones meets The Godfather” will mark the second year in a row the PSO is taking audiences to the movies. Last year’s “Popcorn, Please!” concert featured music from the cult classics Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the James Bond and Lord of the Rings franchises, and proved to be immensely popular.
“It was sold out well in advance and we had to accommodate some people at the rehearsals because it was so successful,” Newnham recalls. “We had so many comments from audiences asking to do more of this kind of thing. It’s something I’ve wanted to do with PSO for a long time because I’m a big fan of film scores.”
While the works of American composer and conductor John Williams were heavily featured in last season’s concert, it was the score of 1972’s The Godfather that inspired Newnham to select the compositions for this year’s movie music concert.
VIDEO: “The Godfather – Suite” by Nino Rota performed by Mannheimer Philharmoniker
“The Godfather is — like for a lot of men — one of my favourite movies,” he says. “I think I’ve seen it well over 20 times and I’ve always loved the soundtrack from it. Nino Rota is one of the great composers of the 20th century.”
Alongside The Godfather, the Italian composer is known for the scores of films directed by Federico Fellini including 1960’s La Dolce Vita and 1963’s 8½. Other works include the scores for 1968’s Romeo and Juliet, and 1954’s La Strada.
“His style is a combination of very instantly recognizable melodies and a certain drama that sounds a bit operative, which fits The Godfather really well,” says Newnham. “But the other thing is there’s a humour and a circus element in his music that you hear also in The Godfather and there’s something funny about it. It’s a combination of comic and the tragic that goes together, which I think personifies the Italian culture and that’s what draws me to this music so much.”
During the concert, The Godfather’s score will be paired alongside the compositions found in the Indiana Jones franchise.
“For a concert to have a really good identity, you want to find another iconic movie figure that’s associated with great movie music and I knew Indiana Jones was a good example of that because of John Williams,” Newnham says. “Who doesn’t love John Williams and who doesn’t love the idea of Indiana Jones? I thought juxtaposing this idea of Harrison Ford with the fedora cap and the whip against The Godfather seems so ridiculous and funny, but I knew it would work.”
In addition to Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Indiana Jones, Williams has composed some of the world’s recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores. His other work includes 1975’s Jaws, 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1990’s Home Alone, 1993’s Jurassic Park, 1993’s Schindler’s List, 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, and the first three films in the Harry Potter series.
VIDEO: “Raiders March” by John Williams with Vienna Philharmonic
“John Williams is one of the greatest composers alive and the music he wrote for the Indiana Jones movies is instantly recognizable. It’s really challenging for an orchestra, and it’s really colourful and rhythmic,” Newnham says. “You can’t get away from John Williams.”
Other compositions audiences will recognize during the concert include compositions from 1980’s Raging Bull (Italian composer Pietro Mascagni), 1984’s Once Upon a Time in America (Italian composer Ennio Morricone), and the Pirates of the Caribbean series — the last of which was written under the direction of Hans Zimmer who Newnham labels as “one of the most important film composers.”
Both performances of “Indiana Jones meets The Godfather” will be preceded by a “Meet the Maestro” talk (at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday and at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday), where Newnham takes to the Showplace stage for an intimate chat about the program.
“It’s something I really enjoy doing because it brings a lot of clarity to me as a conductor if I have the chance to explain to an audience beforehand why we’ve chosen to play these pieces and the history behind them,” Newnham says. “I think it’s great to get an audience member ready and it whets their appetite to listen to music.”
With the joy the musicians get from playing the film scores in concert and their popularity among audiences, a movie music concert could well become a regular addition to every PSO season’s lineup.
“It’s just the second year in a row, and it’s feeling like a little bit of a tradition is setting in here,” says Newnham. “I think that’s a great thing.”
VIDEO: “Theme from Jurassic Park” by John Williams with Vienna Philharmonic
With Saturday’s concert selling fast, tickets for “Indiana Jones meets The Godfather” range from $33, $48, or $55 depending on the selected seat, with student pricing set at $12.
Tickets are available in person at the Showplace Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, and one hour before the concert, or online anytime at showplace.org.
For more information about the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-25 season, visit thepso.org.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-25 season.
