FMS: Feature [Hollywood in Vienna – Vienna in Hollywood]

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FMS FEATURE...

November 13, 2007
Hollywood in Vienna – Vienna in Hollywood
Conductor John Mauceri introduces film music to Austrian concertgoers

John Mauceri

VIENNA, Austria—The Radio-Symphony Orchestra Vienna, under the baton of distinguished conductor and former director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra John Mauceri, will perform a gala concert of film music titled "Hollywood In Vienna – Vienna In Hollywood" on November 29 at the Vienna Concert Hall.

The concert is being held on the 50th anniversary of the death of composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose music set the cornerstone for the development of symphonic film scoring.

Arnold Schoenberg's Fanfare for a Bowl Concert, written in 1945 during Leopold Stokowski's tenure as conductor at the Hollywood Bowl, will set the tone for the evening, followed by selections from several of Korngold's classic film scores – the main title from King's Row; concert arrangements of themes from Between Two Worlds and The Sea Hawk; and a world premiere suite from The Adventures of Robin Hood arranged by Mauceri from previously unpublished material.

The second half of the program will include selections from contemporary film composers John Williams (four themes from his Harry Potter suite and the main theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind); Jerry Goldsmith ("The New Enterprise" from Star Trek: The Motion Picture); and Bruce Broughton ("Ellen's Energy Adventure" from Disney's Epcot Center). Planned encores salute Max Steiner (the main theme and finale from Gone with the Wind) and Hugo Friedhofer (theme from An Affair to Remember).

Produced by Best of Film Music Company, and co-sponsored by the City Of Vienna and the Austrian Cultural Ministry, the concert will be broadcast on Austria's classical radio station Ö1. Interviews with Mauceri and members of the Korngold family will be aired on Austrian television in a new documentary about Korngold's Hollywood career.

The concert marks the premiere of symphonic film music in a traditional Viennese concert venue, and will be the first in a series led by Mauceri celebrating the contributions of Austrian-born composers to Hollywood motion pictures, including Max Steiner, Ernest Toch, Ernest Gold and Hans Salter, among others. Accompanying Mauceri to Austria from his post as Chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts will be a string quartet, a cabaret "Vienna on Broadway" duo and a documentary filmmaker, all NCSA students.

For more information, visit www.hollywood-in-vienna.com.