Here’s a little music trivia: Shostakovitch and Prokofiev, both hugely influential composers, were unabashedly successful with music for the cinema. The Houston Symphony’s Blockbuster Film Scores concert showcases some of the incredible music that’s been heard in films over the past 30 years. Michael Krajewski, principal POPS conductor, leads the orchestra in a program that includes excerpts from Forrest Gump, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings along with more from composers Hans Zimmer and John Williams.
“People will recognize pretty much everything on the program,” says Krajewski. The POPS conductor is most enthusiastic about the newer additions to the list, such as Avatar and Star Trek: Into Darkness. This will be the first time he’ll lead these scores. Along with the audience, he’ll be hearing the music blossom for the first time.
It was a similar concert of popular music that first sparked a passion for music in Krajewski. “I got into music when my parents took me to free concerts in the park where the Detroit Symphony was playing. They would play popular music and Peter and the Wolf, and that’s how I first heard a symphony orchestra. I fell in love with the sound the orchestra made.”
There are performances at two locations for this program. 8 p.m. March 5, Sugar Land Baptist Church, 16755 Southwest Freeway. 8 p.m. March 6 and 7; 7:30 p.m. March 8. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, 615 Louisiana. For information, call 713-224-7575 or visit houstonsymphony.org. $24 to $134.
March 6-7, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 8, 7:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2015.