You would have to be living under a rock to not have been aware that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon. The Los Angeles Philharmonic celebrates this semi-centennial with a concert on Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl called America in Space.
Film composer David Newman leads the LA Phil in a program that combines classical music with film scores and a west coast premiere.
I doubt you could do a show like this without performing some or all of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The powers that be agreed and this concert will open with Mars and close with Jupiter from Holst’s best-known work. Another classical work on the program is Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.
Penka Kouneva’s work from The Women Astronauts will also be performed.
The West Coast Premiere is of Advent by film composer Michael Giacchino (Oscar-winner for his score to Pixar’s Up.)
The other film music includes selections from Hidden Figures (score by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams & Benjamin Wallfisch), selections from James Horner’s score for Apollo 13; Harry Gregson-Williams’s score for The Martian and Steven Price’s score for Gravity.
My personal favorite of the film score selections will be a performance of music written by Oscar-winner Justin Hurwitz for First Man. This is perhaps the best fit for this program as Damien Chazelle’s film specifically told the story of Neil Armstrong and how he became that first man to walk on the moon. Though his score was much-heralded, it inexplicably did not garner an Oscar nomination.
For tickets go here.
