Jerry Goldsmith is the composer behind some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. His epic themes can be heard in everything from “The Mummy”, and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, to “Rudy”, and “The Planet of the Apes” and while Jerry Goldsmith may no longer be with us, his unique musical style and structure continues to make an impact in films, and has inspired a whole new generation of composers.
The Austin Wind Symphony announces it’s “Jerry Goldsmith: Sound-Alike Contest” where composers from all around the world can submit a :60 second piece that sounds as if it could have been written by the late Jerry Goldsmith. You pick the genre, you pick the orchestration, we’ll pick the winner!
One lucky composition will be selected and performed LIVE by the Austin Wind Symphony on October 9th, 2009 as part of their “Fantasy Film Scores” concert.
** CONTEST INFORMATION AND RULES **
1.) The piece should not exceed :60 seconds
2.) All submissions must be emailed in Sibelius or Finale formats to filmscorechallenge@austinwindsymphony.org by September 1st, 2009
3.) Winner will receive an Austin Wind Symphony t-shirt, and an .mp3 of their piece performed LIVE!
4.) The Austin Wind Symphony is given your permission to perform the piece, which can be used in promotional items, and linked to the website.
5.) Only one submission per composer will be reviewed.
Best of LUCK!
Submit your compositions to filmscorechallenge@austinwindsymphony.org
THE AUSTIN PLANETARIUM PARTNERS WITH BOB BULLOCK IMAX THEATRE
FOR UNIQUE STAR TREK OPENING NIGHT EVENT
TICKETS WILL ALSO INCLUDE AUSTIN WIND SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF STAR TREK MUSIC, A COSTUME CONTEST WITH CELEBRITY JUDGES, AND STAR TREKKIN’ COMEDY GROUP PERFORMANCE
WHAT:
The Austin Planetarium in partnership with the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum IMAX Theatre is
offering stargazers and Star Trek fans a special opening night event for the new film on May
8th at the IMAX theatre in Austin Texas. The Planetarium has rented out the entire IMAX Theatre to
bring this stellar event to Austinites. The event will begin with the Austin Wind Symphony
performing music from Star Trek. The Star Trekkin’ comedy group will be there, and the event will also
feature a Star Trek costume contest. Star Trek style food and drinks will also be provided. The
winner of the raffle for a Zero-G flight with Richard Garriott will be announced before the film begins.
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 8th
The event begins at 6pm / The show starts at 9:30pm
Raffle winner for Zero-G flight with Richard Garriott will be announced just before the movie starts.
WHERE:
Bob Bullock IMAX Theatre
1800 N. Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
Tickets for the event are $10 without the movie, and $35 for a full ticket with a movie ticket included. Tickets will be sold only on the Austin Planetarium website http://www.austinplanetarium.org/ prior to the performance. Proceeds will go to the Austin Planetarium.
About Austin Planetarium
The Austin Planetarium is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose goal is furthering science education by building a state-of-the-art Planetarium and Science & Technology Center in Austin, TX. Austin is presently the largest city in the United States without a planetarium or science museum, but through fundraising and building awareness we plan to change that. For more information and updates on the planetarium, visit http://www.austinplanetarium.org/.
On May 8th, 2009 @ 8pm The Austin Wind Symphony will fill the air with the triumphant sounds of the Final Frontier. The “Star Trek” event, scheduled that evening on the plaza of the Bob Bullock History Museum/IMAX Theater will feature the 40 piece volunteer ensemble performing music from the iconic series, and films.
“I am excited to be conducting the music once again, this time for an audience of trekkers/trekkies who will hang on our every note!” said Patrick Phillips, the symphony’s conductor. “It gives me a sense of pride knowing that this music continues to live on in the hearts and souls of fans all around the world.” Phillips, a well known composer of Trek Fan-films (Star Trek: New Voyages, Starship Farragut) founded the Austin Wind Symphony in June 2005, which is now known as “Austin’s VERY OWN Cinematic Symphony” as the ensemble is dedicated to the sole performance of the music from film and television in each of it’s concerts.
This will be the groups second “Trek” into space, as they successfully performed a themed “Star Trek” concert last October with a special video intro from George Takei, a fully costumed symphony, and a flurry of “Websclusive” audio interviews with Star Trek composers Gerald Fried (Amok Time), and Ron Jones (STTNG Seasons 1-3).
This event is a fundraiser for the construction of the Austin Planetarium.
WHEN: May 8th, 8pm
WHERE: BOB BULLOCK: Texas State History Museum / IMAX Theater *On the Plaza*
We all know that when it comes to a good scary movie, the film is NOTHING without the music that makes things go ‘bump in the night’. Such was the case when composer Harry Manfredini sat down to write music for “Friday the 13th”. Listen and watch as he talks about how he concieved the most famously frightening sound of Jason…
“…Remember this was guerrilla film making, and guerrilla film scoring…” – Harry Manfredini
Thanksgiving and turkey have come and gone and Christmas time is here. I think this time gives us some perspective, about our families and what’s really important.
I want to say something about the Walmart employee first, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this story, but I feel deeply sorry for this person and their family. These Black Friday sales, especially at Walmart, are basically unorganized free-for-alls and shopping is not worth lives. I hope we try to think about our friends and family before material things, always.
I think music is one of the things that brings families and friends together. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is sitting in the car with my family listening to classical Christmas music before going to the Christmas Eve service at church. It’s always freezing, but we’re packed in the car with our jackets on.
The Austin Wind Symphony invites you to share the magic of this time through music. Invite your family and friends to our concert on December 5. Radio stations will be playing the same music non-stop, but you’ll get a chance to hear some pieces from your favorite Christmas movies.
I would like to start out by thanking everyone for a fabulous rehearsal. I think we are all ready to keep it up and put on a great concert on Friday.
I always love watching the video clips with the music in rehearsal because it adds so much to the experience and it’s a good sign that at the end of Amok Time during the trombone solo and the clip with Kirk and Spock, I felt the sadness in the music and the video. Our fans and Star Trek fans alike will hopefully feel the same way.
And even if you can’t make it to our concert, we’ve set up a way for anyone to watch live broadcasts of our rehearsals online. We’re now on Ustream.tv, a site that provides an experience like Twitter and You Tube (except it’s live!) combined.
The Twitter style aspect of this is that you can make a username to leave comments or “follow” us. The video shows when we’re on and off air and we will definitely be on air for our dress rehearsal on Thursday night, 7:30. So sit back and relax, you can watch us in your pajamas at home now.
On this blog I could pretend we worked together great 100% of the time but that would obviously be lying and journalists generally try to stay away from that. Tonight honestly was not a good or a fun rehearsal and I think everyone left a lot more down than they’d come in.
The good thing about the practice was that 89.5 FM’s Lilly Gibson came to record our songs and some interviews for the station’s Saturday Matinee program. It was great to receive the press but we also felt pressure from a recording to air on public radio.
The great thing about this ensemble is that we’re open and discussion is encouraged. Patrick doesn’t sugar coat anything for us and I feel like I could tell him about any problems I have, giving it right back. That’s why I can talk about our rehearsal in this post. Patrick can get very emotional when we’re performing under our potential and though I felt uncomfortable and stressed out while he confronted the ensemble, he made it clear that it’s because he cares about us so much and wants us to think of ourselves as much more than amateurs.
This is the reason why we can be honest and talk out our thoughts and feelings when we need to. It’s because music involves the internal heart and brain as well as the external limbs and lips. It’s because we come every week, make a commitment to the group and strive to do more than play the notes on the page.
The source of our stress is also the source of our joy–the performance– and I think we should remember that, especially coming into next week’s rehearsals.
I wore my Star Trek: The Symphonic Frontier shirt yesterday into a costume store and an employee there got so excited when she saw it and heard about our concert. I hope we think about all those people who have grown up watching Star Trek and light up with joy at the thought of this concert. I hope we think of these people not only when they’re right in front of us, but when we’re tired at the end of rehearsal and don’t feel like giving everything to the music.
Well folks,the countdown is on (10 Days!) until the Austin Wind Symphony blasts its way into the Final Frontier! On-board this time around as host and narrator is Captain Jim Kipping! The concert marks is his second time in the role of emcee as he last joined the ensemble in 2007 for their “Epics” concert.
As rehearsals become more and more hectic, Patrick Phillips, AWS conductor had this to say about Kipping… “He’s a big music nut himself, and has a unique ability to engage the audience… When he’s up there at the microphone the only thing I have to worry about is the music, the rest comes naturally.”
Shelly Eager, AWS Vice President, and Phillips recently paid a visited the KLBJ studio where Kipping works, and received a thorough tour of the Emmis Communications station learning in detail Jim’s daily routine.
While you may not know what he looks like… Chances are you’ll NEVER forget his amazing voice! He’s voiced everything from Pizza Hut commercials, and Geraldo at Large, to FOX news and thousands of other famous company’s including the spokesperson for NETFLIX.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to meet the man behind the voice on Friday October 24th, @ 8pm as the Austin Wind Symphony BOLDLY GOES into “Star Trek: The Symphonic Frontier”
AWS Conductor Patrick Phillips and VP Shelly Eager with Jim Kipping
If you haven’t listened to Patrick’s interview with Gerald Fried or other Behind the Score interviews, it’s well worth listening to, both for entertainment and to understand the ideas behind the creation of movie scores. Gerald Fried composed Amok Time, one of the pieces we’ll be playing in the upcoming concert.
The great thing about playing movie and television music is that most of the composers are still alive and we can learn the stories and the concepts behind the pieces. We may never know what the classical composers such as Tchaikovsky and Beethoven were thinking, but with music such as Amok Time, our conductor can actually talk to and connect with the person who created the music, and that’s pretty amazing to me.
And if you’ve never seen the iconic scene Gerald Fried wrote the piece for, you can get some context here.
If you’re a Heroes fan, yesterday was a national holiday, filled with the long-awaited first two episodes of season three. The addicting show, based on the style of graphic novels, has reached soaring popularity and follows the lives of the good, the bad and the ugly of super power world. Though season 2 was interrupted like most primetime by the writer strikes, the new installment, subtitled Heroes & Villians is now in full swing.
Though George Takei appeared only in video form in this episode, the Star Trek veteran made a good run on Heroes through the last of the first season into the second. And the nature of the show tells me we might be seeing more of him in season three. Takei plays Hiro’s mysterious and powerful father Kaito Nakamura, CEO of Yamagato industries in Japan. It seems Takei can’t get away from his Star Trek days as Mr. Sulu on the USS Enterprise; Hiro’s character is a huge Star Trek fan and Nakamura’s limo in his first appearance has a license plate reading NCC-1701, the model of the Enterprise.
[I love the pictures you can find on the Internet. From blog Bitten & Bound.]
Takei also made news recently for his personal life. After announcing this summer that he would marry his 21-year partner Brad Altman, they tied the knot on September 14 in Los Angeles, following the overturn of the gay marriage ban in California.
You can watch episodes featuring Takei and many others here.
Jerry Goldsmith is the composer behind some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. His epic themes can be heard in everything from “The Mummy”, and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, to “Rudy”, and “The Planet of the Apes” and while Jerry Goldsmith may no longer be with us, his unique musical style and structure continues to make an impact in films, and has inspired a whole new generation of composers.
THE AUSTIN PLANETARIUM PARTNERS WITH BOB BULLOCK IMAX THEATRE
