Let me begin by saying that if you’re headed to Walt Disney Concert Hall for a concert, there will be a lot of traffic. I only had two more turns before I made it to the concert hall, but cars were held up at the intersection and it seemed to take forever to get into the parking structure! Luckily, I made it just in time.
Once I scanned my ticket to get in, I had to find my seat. I walked and walked around the building to find my seat on the other side of the hall. A lot of people were already seated. My seat was high up, on the left side of the conductor. I was able to get a pretty nice view of the entire orchestra, and I especially liked how I could see all the musicians who were sitting in the back too. This is a view that I don’t think I would be able to see if I were seated closer to the ground.
The staff members rang bells outside the doors to call people to their seats and the concert started five minutes after 2pm. The conductor, David Newman, walked on stage and kicked off the concert with the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. I was so excited! The acoustics in the hall were amazing. The conductor would talk about each piece every few songs – he was very interesting to listen to and has a good sense of humor too! Here were the other songs that were performed:
KORNGOLD | Main Title from Captain Blood
Miklós RÓZSA | Prelude (Main Title) from Ben-Hur
WAXMAN | Sunset Boulevard Suite
HERRMANN | Scène d’Amour from Vertigo
Alex NORTH | “Forest Meeting” and “March” from Spartacus
Alfred NEWMAN | Cathy’s Theme from Wuthering Heights (with Bing Wang)
Maurice JARRE | Suite from Lawrence of Arabia
INTERMISSION
Danny ELFMAN | Main Title from Batman
John WILLIAMS | Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
GOLDSMITH | The Hunt from Planet of the Apes
MORRICONE | Main Title from Once Upon a Time in the West (with Diana Newman)
Thomas NEWMAN | The Night Window from 1917
John WILLIAMS | “Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra” from Indiana Jones
ROTA | Suite from The Godfather
Alan SILVESTRI | Suite from Back to the Future
During intermission, I took a stroll through the Blue Ribbon Garden. It was very peaceful, and a lot of people were just hanging around during the 15 minute intermission. The break went by really quick, and again, the staff members rang bells to let us know it’s time to go back.
I really enjoyed the songs in the second half of the concert, especially the one with Diana Newman singing. The other ones that stood out to me were the pieces from Indiana Jones, The Godfather, and Back to the Future. After the last piece, the conductor left, and as people started leaving, he came back to conduct one final piece! Nobody was expecting that to happen. This concert was such a cool experience, I’m curious how all their other concerts are!
