The Knox-Galesburg Symphony will close its season Saturday with a concert built around some of the most recognizable music in film, from The Sound of Music and The Magnificent Seven to Jurassic Park, Frozen, and Harry Potter.
Guest conductor Rich Cangro, a music professor at Western Illinois University, said the theme grew out of an initial idea for the symphony to accompany a silent film in Galesburg’s historic Orpheum Theatre.
“But then it kind of evolved into this show of featuring film music from across the ages,” Cangro said.
“Silver Screen Symphony” will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 20, at the Orpheum.
Cangro said the first half of the program features music from classic films and musicals, such as Fiddler on the Roof, while the second half veers toward sci-fi, with selections including music from Star Trek.
“And then we threw in Frozen, because we wanted to get some kids to enjoy, ‘Let it Go,’ right?” Cangro said.
The program will also feature WIU alumna Madalyn Pridemore as concertmaster. She will perform the violin solo for Schindler’s List.
“I’ve known her since she was a little grasshopper,” Cangro said, noting that Pridemore received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WIU. “Now she’s grown up and she is being the concertmaster for the Knox-Galesburg Symphony. So I just couldn’t be prouder.”
“Silver Screen Symphony” will close a season of transition for the symphony, following the departure of its executive director and principal conductor.
Previous concerts this season included Aaron Copland’s The Lincoln Portrait, a holiday kickoff called “A Celebration of Spirit,” and a February performance of romantic works of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.
Cangro said “Silver Screen Symphony” fits into the broader spectrum of what the Knox-Galesburg Symphony can provide.
“In terms of doing traditional, serious classical music that’s just heartbreaking and so emotionally moving, as well as this wonderful, uplifting concert of film music,” Cangro said.
Cangro, a trumpeter, has performed with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony for more than 15 years. He also was the guest conductor for The Lincoln Portrait.
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