An uproariously delighted audience filled the concert hall Friday night, as the QSO shared music from famous films, scored by Hans Zimmer.

We revisited Sherlock Holmes, The Dark Knight, Batman, The Thin Red Line, The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, and others.

It was a full program.

It’s surprising how much the music lingers in our memory of a film. The QSO brings movies to life with its annual blockbuster film concert series. It also presents discrete events, like this tribute to Hans Zimmer.

In October, for the sixth year in a row, the QSO will roll out the red carpet for Cinematic.

Hans Zimmer’s mother was a musician, and he played the piano at home. His father, who died when he was young, was an engineer and an inventor. That mix in Hans’s view of the world led him to become an early innovator of electronic music. He was part of the new wave in the 1970s blending synthesisers, keyboards, and punk.

Music suited the wild child who had been thrown out of eight schools. He washed up in a London school as a teenager, in time to hang out with the Buggles of “Video Killed the Radio Star” fame. (He made it onto their promotion video.)

How do I know all this?

The QSO concert was hosted by Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding, of “The Art of the Score” podcast fame. https://www.artofthescore.com.au/about

Art of the Score: Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding

They were personally responsible for the uproar. They encouraged the school groups, grey-haired QSO subscribers, and film buffs to extend their appreciation of the QSO beyond fortissimo. I do wonder how Vanessa Scammell and her Orchestra felt. Smiles broke out all over the stage.

This was great fun. Orchestra members ceased to be remote, classically trained musicians of genius, and became mates at work.

I’m in awe of the percussionist (Tim Corkeron or David Montgomery?) who kept the beat that dominated some of Zimmer’s creations. Consistent in timing and sound, he was superhuman in his concentration. I was held spellbound.

Vanessa, the conductor with long blonde hair much like that of Jacqueline du Pré, isolated individual musicians for praise after particularly notable contributions.

The conductor and Orchestra played with the hosts, repeating familiar passages in different keys, and time signatures. For example, they took us from Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” one key change and timing change at a time into the theme song from “Inception”.

It was a great night out. Keep your eye on the QSO program. Treat yourself!

Images by Sam Muller from Sam Muller Media.

Kerry McGovern