Kodak Hall Resounds with Music from Hollywood’s Blockbusters

Rochester, NY – The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra ends the month by bringing the energy and excitement of feature film soundtracks to Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. On Friday, February 26, and Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 pm, the RPO and Guest Conductor Jack Everly team up with the voices of the Rochester Oratorio Society (ROS) to bring a selection of the most memorable music from some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters.

Classic soundtracks from such films as Gone with the Wind, Titanic, Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, and the main title from 2001- A Space Odyssey, recall the experience of sitting in a darkened theater, surrendering to another world.  “I was raised on MGM movies when they were being shown as ‘revivals,’” Everly said about his penchant for film music. “I was utterly transfixed by what was unfolding on the screen.  So much marvelous music. So much drama. I was hooked.”

Jack Everly is a leader in symphonic pops throughout North America. He is the Principal Pops Conductor with the Baltimore, Indianapolis, and National Arts Centre (Ottawa) symphony orchestras as well as Music Director for the Symphonic Pops Consortium. Everly has appeared on “In Performance at the White House” and conducted the songs for Disney’s animated classic The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He led the orchestra for the national PBS telecast of the American Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet starring Natalia Makarova. He has been Music Director on numerous Broadway cast recordings, and conducted the critically praised, Everything’s Coming Up Roses: The Complete Overtures of Broadway’s Jule Styne.

Rochester Oratorio Society debuted more than 60 years ago with the first of its now traditional Christmas season performances of Handel’s Messiah.  Since that time, the ROS has grown to become Rochester’s premiere large concert chorus. In 2006, Eric Townell joined ROS as only its third director. ROS has performed with the European Symposium of Choral Masterworks in Paris, London, Salzburg, Mantua, and Verona, as well as at prominent festivals closer to home, including Chautauqua.  ROS has given the Rochester premieres of numerous major works, including Britten’s War Requiem, John Rutter’s Magnificat, and Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand.

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