Chattanooga Times Free Press - ChattanoogaNow
Storm Troopers invade Tivoli Theatre for CSO ‘Sci-Fi and Superheroes’
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Bob Bernhardt!
Bernhardt, the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera’s music director emeritus, will lead the CSO in a fun, family-oriented “Sci-Fi and Superheroes” pops concert on Saturday night, April 22, in the Tivoli Theatre.
The program of music from movie soundtracks ranges from “Star Trek” to “Star Wars,” “Superman” to “Lord of the Rings.” The featured guest artist will be soprano Mela Dailey.
“Basically, this is an excuse to play spectacular film scores — very famous, very popular symphonic film scores of the last 20 or so years,” says Bernhardt. “It’s music that basically everybody knows, but it’s all in one place.”
“I’m a ‘Star Wars’ fan, but more than that, I am a film movie nut,” says the conductor, revealing his own Kryptonite.
“I l ove conducting film scores. My hero is John Williams. Because of John, the whole genre of film music is at an unparalleled level. John wrote ‘The Force Awakens’ at age 84. There are so few composers who write music of great importance into their 80s,” he praises.
Bernhardt says the CSO will play several television themes from “Star Trek,” as well as Michael Giacchino’s “Star Trek Into Darkness” suite. “It’s a wonderfully exciting sendup of the ‘Star Trek’ series,” Bernhardt says.
Whether fans consider Jack Sparrow a hero or antihero, the pirate’s presence will be felt when the CSO plays music from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
As Bernhardt l i sts numbers chosen for the program, the film buff also reels off the movie scenes in which they can be heard.
“In ‘ The Fifth Element,’ there is a scene in which a soprano sings ‘the mad scene’ from ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ by Donizetti. In the James Bond movie, ‘Quantum of Solace,’ there is a whole sequence in the opera house where the soprano is singing ‘Vissi d’arte’ from Puccini’s ‘Tosca.’ Mela will sing both of those,” he says.
Additionally, she will sing “Can You Read My Mind?” from “Superman” and the orchestra will play the “Superman” march.
And the CSO has a finale planned to top all others.
“The concert will end with a suite from ‘ The Force Awakens,’ the seventh episode of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. We are going to have visitors from the 501st Legion. They come in fabulous costumes that are almost film- worthy. They’ll be in the lobby for photos as well as onstage.”
Storm Troopers invading the Tivoli? Be there Saturday night.