Wands & Wizards | Houston Symphony
Photo Courtesy of Wands & WizardsIf you’re one of the millions of people around the world who hear a certain tinkling celesta melody and immediately hop a train in your mind to Hogwarts, you can thank John Williams.
The first of four composers responsible for the sonic landscape of the eight Harry Potter films, Williams laid the groundwork for the subsequent films and managed to craft the most recognizable tune of them all, “Hedwig’s Theme.” The magical motif quickly joined the ranks of Williams’s other iconic compositions – the triumphant, swashbuckling “Raiders March,” synonymous with Indiana Jones; the suspenseful, relentless tension of the “Theme From Jaws”; and the awe-inducing “Theme from Jurassic Park”, to name a few. (Seriously, it’s just a few. Google “John Williams” and see the man who scored your childhood.)
When Associate Conductor Robert Franz takes to the podium for Houston Symphony’s Wands & Wizards: Music from Harry Potter & More, “Hedwig’s Theme” is a pretty safe bet, but it’s anyone’s guess what else might appear on the program. Maybe the pageantry of Patrick Doyle’s “The Quidditch World Cup,” composed for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? The ruthless, pink-tinged cheer of Nicholas Hooper’s “Professor Umbridge” from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Alexandre Desplat’s hauntingly beautiful “Lily’s Theme,” which opened Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2?
A few treats outside of the Potterverse will also be thrown in, including Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” – familiar to Disney aficionados everywhere due to its use in the 1940 film Fantasia.
Franz has been known to dress up for the occasion, and a scheduled on-stage costume parade also gives audience members an opportunity to don a velvet robe or Wesley sweater, too. Accio sewing kit!
Houston Symphony’s Wands & Wizards: Music from Harry Potter & More takes place on October 12, 2019, at Jones Hall.