It’s the San Antonio Symphony’s first performance of the season, and as it turns out, they're starting the season with a Hollywood blockbuster. They're going to show the movie E.T: The Extra Terrestrial.
“The full-length movie, E.T. And the San Antonio Symphony will be performing the sound track to it,” said Symphony President David Gross.
How that's done is that the symphony gets a theatrical copy of the movie and plays it on a large screen. That movie is a special copy that has all the audio on it except the orchestrated parts.
“The conductor syncs up the music, and so it’s really an art to do it,” Gross explains.
He says that it's a really different experience, going to a movie with a live orchestra performing.
“Last year we did a similar presentation with Star Trek: Into Darkness, and it totally changed the feel of the movie. It really was kind of a goose bump type of effect many times because the music is so much more powerful when you hear it live.”
The Academy Award-winning soundtrack was written and originally conducted by John Williams.
“John Williams really, for a lot of people, defines orchestral music in the 20th and 21st century,” said Gross.
The Symphony’s E.T. performance is this Friday and Saturday at the Majestic Theater and it has this added highlight: the Santikos Theater chain has donated high end technical gear, and Gross says “The visuals are going to be outstanding.”
For more on the event, go here.
