Open Rehearsal: Marin Alsop conducts Star Wars and The Planets

Programme

Marin Alsop conducts three of the most popular works in the orchestral repertoire in this space-themed concert for all the family.  

John Williams is arguably the greatest film music composer of all time, with 26 Grammys and 5 Oscars in his bulging trophy cabinet. He wrote the unforgettable music for all nine Star Wars films. The Suite brings together many of the best bits, including the swashbuckling main theme and Darth Vader’s menacing ‘Imperial March’.  

Next, brilliant guitarist Sean Shibe joins the Philharmonia for Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. This treasure of the classical guitar repertoire evokes the gardens of a Spanish royal palace. The composer himself described it as ‘full of melancholic emotion… In its melody the perfume of magnolias lingers, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains.’ 

Holst’s The Planets was a major influence on John Williams’s Star Wars scores. From the violence of ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’ to the ethereal voices of ‘Neptune, the Mystic’ (via ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’, whose melody is more familiar to rugby fans as World in Union) Holst gives us a masterclass in how music can conjure up different moods and characters.