"A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake," said legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock. Setting out to prove that his soundtracks are equally dramatic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will perform a program titled "Hitchcock!" as part of the DTE Energy Foundation Pops Series, on Thursday, October 4 at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m.; Friday, October 5 at 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 6 at 8:30 p.m.; and Sunday, October 7 at 3 p.m. at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
A night of intrigue and spine-tingling music, this first DSO Pops program of the 2007-08 season celebrates the brilliance of Hitchcock's cinematic soundtracks, while favorite scenes from his classic thrillers including North by Northwest, Dial M for Murder and Strangers on a Train come to life on a big screen above the Orchestra. Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos leads the DSO in this unique multimedia performance, with narration by John Goberman, who is also the acclaimed creator and Executive Producer of the "Live from Lincoln Center" specials since 1976.
For half a century, Alfred Hitchcock created films full of gripping and memorable music. Over his long career he presided over more musical styles than any director in history and ultimately changed how we think about film music. For Hitchcock, music was not merely an accompaniment to his films; it was an integral part of the cinematic experience, used to influence atmosphere, characterization and even the storylines of his films.
Academy Award-winning film composer Bernard Herrmann collaborated with Hitchcock over a period of nine years, beginning in 1955, creating masterpiece scores for North by Northwest, Psycho and Vertigo. Herrmann once said: "there are only a handful of directors like Hitchcock who really know the score and fully realize the importance of its relationship to a film." Hermann composed notable scores for many other movies including Citizen Kane, Cape Fear and Taxi Driver, as well as the music for the original sensational radio broadcast of Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds." North by Northwest, which stars Cary Grant as John Robie, is the tale of a notorious but retired jewel thief nicknamed "The Cat." Both the film and the music the DSO will perform portray his adventures through a blend of intrigue, romance, and humor.
The score for Dial M for Murder, a movie about a husband's meticulous plot to murder his wife starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly, was written by three-time Academy Award-winning film composer and conductor Dimitri Tiomkin. A native of Russia, Tiomkin was an accomplished pianist and studied harmony and counterpoint with classical composer Alexander Glazunov. He was one of the most productive and decorated film music writers of Hollywood, along with Max Steiner, Miklós Rózsa and Franz Waxman. His score for Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train masterfully communicates the scenario of two men who meet on a train, one of them menacingly unstable and psychotic, and develop the idea to exchange murders.
Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of symphony and opera. He is in his second season as Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as general director of the Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. He is also in demand as a theater conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide, having conducted the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical "Coram Boy" and the American Conservatory Theatre's production of Kurt Weill's "Happy End" last season. -- www.detroitsymphony.com
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