BY ANGELO VALDIVIA
We would like to welcome Angelo in his first review as part of the CutCommon team.
Symphonic Fantasy
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Perth Concert Hall, 12 April
Living in Adelaide has its draws for being known as ‘The Festival City’ – particularly in the beginning months of every year, thanks to the Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival, and WOMADelaide, among others. But as a classical musician raised on popular culture, I’m often starved for entertainment that marries these two genres.
The eastern states sometimes accommodate by hosting games concerts put on by international tours or the like. But when I happened to be in Perth last year and saw a poster for a games and film concert by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, I was immediately intrigued.
Leading up to this Symphonic Fantasy event, which took place last weekend, I wasn’t sure what kind of experience to expect – that is, until minutes before my arrival at the Perth Concert Hall, when I spotted two violinists walking in my direction, fully dressed as the Mario Bros.
Most of us are familiar with the typical classical concert: the familiar older demographic with a sprinkled variety of younger generations. In the foyer before WASO’s Symphonic Fantasy, however, there was a wide spectrum of concertgoers, from children through to grandparents – and among them were even cosplayers. The atmosphere was buzzing and continued into the theatre where I found my seat. Massive screens with silhouettes of superheroes were perched behind the empty orchestra seats, which were eventually filled by musicians dressed as all kinds zany characters. There was Elastigirl, Superman, Thor, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, The Phantom, Rey, Wally, Fred Flintstone, Goku, an ambitiously-sized Elmo playing principal viola…
But, of course, the real kicker was when conductor Christopher Dragon took to the stage dressed as Gandalf the Grey.
Thankfully, the fun didn’t stop there. The concert opened with an overture from the recent Mary Poppins Returns, complete with iconic visuals blaring from the screens, and was met with excited applause. We then moved on to a symphonic suite from The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, which worked up more excitement from the crowd. Dragon took some moments between pieces to address the audience and discuss the works being performed, and third on the program was from a game called ABZÛ, composed by up-and-coming games composer Austin Wintory (Journey, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate).
Of course, it’s often an unwritten rule for a games concert to feature music from a Square Enix game, and To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X was gracefully performed. Dragon took another moment to address the next piece – “A world premiere!” he declared: The Storm King from the gaming phenomenon Fortnite, which was performed well, but I personally felt was an odd choice given how obscure that particular piece is.
Then came the first (of many) costume changes by the maestro to accommodate the upcoming piece. An obvious vessel of theatrics, Dragon dashed off stage towards the end of the previous piece and re-emerged, hunched over on the handlebars of a bicycle and garbed under a white sheet. Indeed, he conducted Flying Theme from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial as the titular character, to conclude the first half of the show.
For all the excitement generated around the music and on-stage antics, the accompanying light show deserves some recognition. Honestly, there were moments I felt like the lighting operators were at the wrong gig – and we all benefited from it. E.T. was made all the more spectacular towards its climax when images of the alien spaceship were displayed on screen, and golden light beams washed across the theatre as if our very own conductor was about to be taken “home”.
The second half kicked off with Dragon entering the stage dressed in a Slytherin gown (seriously, his frequency of costume changes are rivalled only by a Lady Gaga half-time show), and a performance of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. More Square Enix fan service was delivered in the form of Kingdom Hearts, which was met with squeals from some people sitting nearby me. It was soon after that when I had my own little moment, at the opening fanfare of a suite of Back to the Future, where I may have involuntarily fist-pumped a few times.
Alan Silvestri was represented again, in the form of The Avengers, which was interrupted by an angry Hulk who jumped on stage to chase away the conductor towards his fourth (but not final) costume change. It was time for the finale of the concert, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, this time conducted by none other than the Jedi Master himself, Yoda. This suite contained Main Theme, Yoda’s Theme, The Asteroid Field (the aural highlight) and The Imperial March (the visual highlight, complete with more frantic lighting).
Of course, a concert of this calibre wouldn’t be over without an encore, and to give the audience what it wanted, Dragon raised the excitement even further by returning in his meme-worthy inflatable T-Rex costume. Yes, just like the one that was subject to a complete wardrobe malfunction in 2018. But instead of the encore featuring Jurassic Park, this time WASO pulled the rug from under everyone by sending us off with Cantina Theme from Star Wars: A New Hope.
WASO and Dragon put on an incredibly fun show that arguably catered to every demographic present in the Perth Concert Hall, delivering a delightful aural experience and a visual splendour. Some standout instrumental moments by Semra Lee-Smith on violin, Andrew Freeman on piccolo, Andrew Nicholson on flute, and Jenna Smith on trumpet weren’t unrecognised; and the orchestra as a whole played beautifully (a shout-out to the horn section for some of those killer lines in Star Wars).
WASO’s Symphonic Fantasy is proof that a city orchestra is more than capable of putting on its own popular culture concert without compromising on traditional “artistic integrity”. Any orchestra twiddling its thumbs, wondering how to attract a younger, more vibrant audience need only look towards Perth and take some notes.
READ NEXT: Miranda Ilchef explores a growing interest in music for game, and Stephanie Eslake writes about how we can find classical music in video games.
Images supplied. Credit: Rebecca Mansell (WASO). Games image: JD Hancock via Flickr CC BY 2.0.
