Pannon Philharmonic

Conductor

András Vass

Education:
Twelve years of piano studies at the Targu Mures Arts Lyceum; two years of private study with the composer Boldizsár Csíky; Balthasar five years of conducting study led by  Ervin Lukács, András Ligeti, and Tamás Gál, after having admitted with maximum score to Franz Liszt Academy of Music… More

About the Programme

Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: The Adventures of Robin Hoo
Leonard Rosenman: East of Eden
Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Phantom of the Opera (arr.: R. Hayman)
Rózsa Miklós: El Cid
John Williams: Schindler's List (arr.: John Moss)
John Williams: Star Wars

The motion picture, launched to conquer the word, really needed the music’s presence since the films were dumb. In the cinemas, pianists played medleys or improvised to mediate the mood of the movie. Then with the talkies, the creative concentration of film and music got an integral role. Our concert gives a selection from this colourful and rich film music world,

Music by...

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Robin Hood (1938)
He was born in the Austrian- Hungarian Monarchy’s Brünn; and at a young age, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss appraised him as a genius. Max Reinhardt invited him to Hollywood in 1934. He composed music for almost 30 films; “The Adventures of Robin Hood” brought him his second Oscar in 1938. Later he said that Robin Hood had saved his life since he had stayed in America because of this job. His style deeply influenced the modern film music.

Leonard Rosenman: East of Eden (1955)
The Brooklyn born composer got his diploma at Berkeley, California,; among his teachers were Arnold Schönberg and Luigi Dallapiccola. He wrote 70 film music scores for movies like Elia Kazan’s world hit East of Eden, with James Dean playing the main character. He got two Oscars and two Emmies.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Phantom of the Opera (1986)
Andrew Lloyd Webber is the most significant musical composer of the last thirds of the 20th century. His Phantom of the Opera has been appreciated as one of the most successful theatre production of the world: premiered in 1986, performed 65000 times in 18 countries, seen by 80 million people, second longest run at Broadway. The film version gave the opportunity to Webber to review a score and arrange it to a whole orchestra. He wrote a new song and new sound track parts to it too.

Rózsa Miklós: El Cid (1961)
The greatest master of the Hungarian film composition wrote film music to hundred movies. He got 17 Oscar nomination, got three small statues for the best soundtrack. The 1961 movie “El Cid” tells the romantic story of the legendary Castilian night and war-lord, who fought and won big battles against the Arabs occupying the major part of the Iberian Peninsula. El Cid was Charlton Heston; the leading lady Sophia Loren. This movie gave chance to Rózsa to dive into the world of Spanish folklore and mix his own epically musical universe. The composer himself rated this work as his last most important product.

John Williams: Schindler’s list (1993)
The American composer, who wrote music for more than one-hundred movies, was nominated almost fifty times for Oscars and won five; was nominated for 18 Golden Globes and won 4; got 7 British Academy Awards and 20 Grammies. He is a fixed partner of Steven Spielberg; so in the Schindler’s List, which got 7 Oscars in the next year following its premiere; one for the best original soundtrack. In the film, telling the story of a German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who saved more than thousand Polish Jews’ lives, the music has an extremely important role.

John Williams: Star Wars (1977-2005)
One of John Williams’s first, really world successes earning film music was the Star Wars in 1977; he has written the soundtracks for the “prequels” too. The first composition’s main theme became such a big hit that it has been rearranged countless times, even for symphonic orchestras.