I have been wanting to take our family to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) for a while now, and with Kai doing well at his cousin Lucy's high school concerts, we thought it might be a good time to try seeing the CSO.
A few weeks ago, I got the tickets and told Kai that we would go see the Symphony. He was not at all excited. But when I mentioned that the orchestra would be playing along with a film, he got curious and wanted to know which film. And when I mentioned that the film was the original Star Wars movie, he was ecstatic.
The concert was last night. My wife and Kai took the train downtown to meet me. (My office is located very close to Symphony Center).
As we took our seats, we were very curious to see what this film-concert experience would be like.
No photos are allowed during the performance but I shot the following just prior so you can see the setup.
Not to keep you in suspense, it was fantastic!
From the first drumroll of the 20th Century Fox music to the last of the end credits, this was a very fun experience. The iconic Star Wars music never sounded so good as heard live while played by the CSO. Being so familiar with the movie enabled us to focus on the music and it was interesting to see how precisely choreographed the concert was to the film. And seeing Star Wars this way really highlights how critical the music is to the film.
And while the performance was excellent throughout, the highlight came during the end credits. This is normally when everyone heads out of the theater, but in this case, the musical crescendo as the credits rolled was awesome!
Kai loved it, as did we all. It was the perfect way to introduce him to the Chicago Symphony.
Yes, it was probably the best way to introduce Kai to the symphony. It must have been quite an experience. Kai was certainly all smiles before the show. I never knew orchestras did such things. What a great way to introduce orchestral music to children or newbies.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how long orchestras have been doing this type of thing. It looked like the conductor had some type of high tech screen in front of him to help him know exactly when to bring the music into each scene.
DeleteReally a great way to make orchestral music fun and interesting to newbies.