• Features,  Reviews

    ‘Hans Zimmer Live’ In Texas Is Big Beyond Words

    World-renowned composer Hans Zimmer recently came to Texas with Hans Zimmer Live (or, simpler, HZL) and their stop in Ft. Worth rocked the house. Zimmer’s music is magical, soul touching and earthshaking. As one of the most powerful and influential figures in music, his band’s talent is eclipsed only by their diversity. It’s safe to say that their live show is like nothing else, and you can never truly capture the sound of the experience through headphones or a turntable. It bears repeating, but HZL is a one-of-a-kind concert, and one which runs the gamut of crowd-pleasing favorites, notable pop culture hits, and themes/tunes which truly mean a lot to…

  • Editorials,  Movies/Entertainment

    Back to the Orchestra: The Sound of VCRs, Analog TV, and Flying Cars

    Some things have certain smells that have the capacity to transport to a very specific place. Be it your mother’s cooking or the perfume of the one you shared your first kiss with, you can go to a specific memory and relive it over and over. How about the cinema? Can the smell of stale popcorn, artificial butter flavoring and dirty carpets take you some place?  The same thing happens with sounds and music. Film scores have been part of cinema ever since sound was incorporated into the reel. Can you imagine Indiana Jones fighting Nazis without John Williams’ score in the background? Or Marty McFly riding his skateboard without Alan…

  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra,  Editorials,  Features,  Movies/Entertainment

    Hollywood Hits and The Music of John Williams with The Dallas Symphony Orchestra

    The glamour and excitement of Tinseltown come alive when the DSO presents famous movie soundtracks from films like Star Wars, Jaws, Goldfinger, Silverado, Pirates of the Caribbean and more. Take your seat for the best in entertainment with music that ignites the senses in sonic splendor only heard at the Meyerson Symphony Center. But before the lights go down on the evenings of June 6-8, here’s a little glimpse of what to expect from the world-renowned Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The following text is from the essay we contributed to the playbill for this Pops concert. The Hollywood Golden era was a wondrous time in cinema history. The period between the…

  • Movies/Entertainment,  Reviews

    G-S-T Review…Metallica: Through the Never

    It’s a kind of weird and awesome experience to grow up listening to band finally getting to see them in concert. Yes, concert, and we say that because Metallica’s new “movie”, a term to be used very loosely in this situation, can only be called a movie because it was 1. filmed by a camera and 2. will be exhibited theatrically. Held together with what generously can be phrased as a flimsy narrative finds Dane DeHaan, the lead in the 2012 surprise hit Chronicle, as a roadie for the iconic thrash metal band sent on an urgent mission during their sold-out concert. Other than than it’s a bona fide concert that becomes…

  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra,  Movies/Entertainment

    Michael Giacchino – Live At The Meyerson Symphony Center

    Oscar-winning film composer Michael Giacchino has won hearts around the world with his themes to Up, Star Trek, Lost among many others. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra invited Michael to conduct a retrospective concert this past weekend and it was an experience to say the least. His already thrilling music became even more vibrant as it echoed off every surface in the majestic hall of the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. That plus the amazing contributions from the University of Texas at Arlington Festival choir helped make the themes you thought you knew and loved even more colorful on the evenings of May 18th – 20th. The air in the symphony hall before Michael…

  • Dallas Symphony Orchestra,  Movies/Entertainment

    James Newton Howard – Live At The Meyerson Symphony Center

    To kick-off the 2012 program in the Masters of Film Music series, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra invited Oscar-nominated film composer James Newton Howard to perform a collection of his favorite and well known cinematic themes. With over 100 films to his name and 27 years experience scoring films he’s a legend in film circles and has become one of the most versatile, dynamic and in-demand musicians in his field. Howard had been asked several times by the Dallas Symphony to come and play a series of his themes.Howard admits, as he told us in our exclusive with him, that he had always wanted to do this and finally decided now was the right time. Listening to…