5. Philharmonic Concert »Morricone in Concert«

We dedicate this concert to one of the greatest composers of film music of all time: Ennio Morricone. He created iconic melodies and soundtracks, and his music became the very soul of many films. It played a major part in ensuring that masterpieces such as Cinema Paradiso went down in cinema history. For Giuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning tribute to cinema, Morricone composed melodies that blend wonderfully with the poetry of the images – such as the love theme, sung with heart-rending beauty by the clarinet.

Morricone also made cinema history because he worked with unusual sounds and instruments, like in the Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and because he composed music that itself became part of the plot, as in The Mission and Sergio Leone’s immortal classic Once Upon a Time in the West. He sets the film’s pace and, using electric guitar, harmonica and orchestral sounds, elegantly captures the sense of doom that pervades this story. It is unique how Morricone, through his music, elevates a Western to the status of an almost operatic tragedy. Thanks to Morricone’s music, Once Upon a Time in the West achieved cult status. To hear this soundtrack performed live by a large orchestra and choir is a truly special experience.

This tribute to one of the greatest film composers is conducted by one of the world’s most accomplished film music experts. Frank Strobel has worked with, amongst others, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt), the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Seattle Symphony, the Sydney Symphony and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. He is the artistic director of the European FilmPhilharmonic Institute.