Guest Conductor for Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert
As the Tucson Symphony Orchestra prepares to close its 2025–26 season, it will do so with a cinematic masterpiece: Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert, performed live alongside the iconic film. The performance marks the return of conductor Matthew Kasper, who last appeared in Tucson leading Disney’s Coco in 2022.
Film scores have surged in popularity in recent years, drawing audiences of all ages into concert halls across the country and around the world. We spoke with Maestro Kasper about the unique challenges of bringing these beloved scores to life in sync with film, and what continues to make these performances so rewarding for both musicians and audiences alike.
“For me, I love John Williams as a composer. I’m in my early 40s so most of the iconic movie music that I have grown up with has been John Williams,” Kasper said. “His music is such an integral part of telling the story of a movie – getting the emotions of certain scenes, building the tension, creating moments that get people excited – he is a master at that.”
Media consumption today continues to be driven by feature films, where many modern composers focus their work. As audiences in concert halls begin to trend younger, symphony orchestras like your Tucson Symphony Orchestra have embraced bringing popular film scores to life, inviting new listeners into the concert experience and sparking a deeper appreciation for live orchestral music.
“There are people that have never gone to the symphony, or that don’t feel comfortable going for a whole host of reasons,” Kasper adds. “The hope I have for these programs is that it gets the person who maybe would not have gone to the symphony before into the concert hall and wanting to start doing more of that.
“Film is a medium that people are comfortable with and that they know; it’s fun. I think that’s why there is such a connection with it, and why orchestras around the US are doing this, because they see the inherent value in it. But it’s also a lot of fun for the musicians to play.”
Bringing a film score to the concert stage, however, comes with unique challenges. As the movie plays overhead, the conductor is typically the only orchestra member on stage watching the screen.
The musicians, meanwhile, often perform in low light, guided by stand lights illuminating their sheet music. Precision is everything, timing must align exactly with the action on screen. To achieve this, conductors frequently rely on a visual aid known as a click track, which helps them stay perfectly synchronized with the film from start to finish.
“Sometimes it’s almost necessary to use a click track so that you’re exactly on with everything,” Kasper says. “John Williams wrote his scores in such a way that you can do some things musically within the framework, and that’s what I really love about them. Now, there are a few moments like when the Death Star blows up that you must be right on; it would look very weird if the Death Star blew up and that big chord happened a second later.”
Conducting a film score while following the screen can be a real mental juggling act. Maestro Kasper describes the careful planning that goes into every performance, as well as the constant interaction between conductor and orchestra to maintain precision throughout the score.
“There’s very little room for error,” he notes, explaining that even small shifts in tempo, such as an extended ritardando (slowing of the music) can quickly throw a scene out of sync. To prevent this, Kasper meticulously marks key transitions and tempo changes, ensuring that crucial musical moments align precisely with the film.
“When I’m conducting a Classics concert, I am very much an in-the-moment person. I try and see where the orchestra is at, for example, and one day do a little bit more than they did the previous day. For movies, you must plan exactly how you’re going to make those transitions so you can hit the tempos. And you must be super clear with the orchestra because you don’t get a lot of rehearsal time.”
The Star Wars score will soon mark 50 years since its debut in 1977, cementing its place as one of the most iconic film scores in history. Looking back to the greats like Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven, opera represents the closest historical parallel to modern film scoring, a fully integrated art form where music, drama, and narrative are tightly woven together.
We asked Kasper where he believes John Williams’ work fits within that spectrum, given his status as one of the most celebrated film composers of our time, as well as his contributions to the symphonic music tradition through numerous classical works.
“When we look at context of where we are in society and history, this is almost the natural evolution of opera, because the music is helping to tell the story. When I study the score, part of what I do is I have the movie in front of me playing with the sound turned off, to get the sense of timing. You watch these scenes – the Death Star blowing up or Darth Vader walking down the hall – it’s boring; there is nothing there without the music.
“I think Williams will be looked upon as easily one of the best composers of the 20th & 21st centuries. He’s written concertos, he composed the Olympic anthem, and the majority of his music is played by orchestras and not in a film setting. The music holds by itself as a great experience for the audience. He is iconic.”
Kasper notes that in recent years, Williams has appeared as a guest conductor with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, further bridging the worlds of concert master works and film scores.
Traditionally, many of these renowned symphony orchestras have focused on the classical canon, but in recent years have increasingly programmed concerts featuring his most beloved film scores. In these settings, both musicians and audiences alike are visibly engaged, embracing the blend of cinematic storytelling and live orchestral performance with a shared sense of enthusiasm.
“I have conducted Star Wars before, so that also helps,” Matthew Kasper adds. “Revisiting the score, there are parts that you would think are written by Pierre Boulez, or passages that sound almost exactly like the opening of The Rite of Spring. He has used the knowledge of other composers he has studied to create the soundscape for what the film is showing. The talent that takes is incredible.”