‘Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back’ in Concert At Allentown Symphony Hall Oct 6, 2023

The ALLENTOWN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA will present Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back In Concert featuring screenings of the complete film with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live to the film.

The concert will be led by acclaimed conductor Thiago Tiberio.

Since the release of the first Star Wars movie over 40 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects and iconic musical scores composed by Williams.

“Last May, we received enthusiastic feedback about how amazing the Allentown Symphony Orchestra sounded. Audience members said it was just like the music in the original film and often more noticeable since the volume of the music in the film is often turned down below the dialogue and sound effects,” Jacobsen added.

The ensemble performing in the first six Star Wars films is the world-renowned London Symphony Orchestra.

Fans will be able to experience the scope and grandeur of this beloved film in a live symphonic concert experience, when Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back debuts on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2023, AT 7:30 PM.

Tickets go on sale to the public on FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 2023 AT 10:00 AM EST through the PPL Center Website: www.PPLCenter.com.

Legendary composer Williams is well known for scoring all nine of the Star Wars saga films to date, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope for which he earned an Academy Award® for Best Original Score. His scores for The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were each nominated for Best Original Score.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards and 23 Grammy Awards. With 53 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second most-nominated individual in history, after Walt Disney.

In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams’ score to 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to A New Hope also was preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl’s Hall of Fame in 2000, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016. Williams has composed the scores for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is produced under license by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox and Warner/Chappell Music.

STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © & TM

Disney Concerts is the concert production and licensing division of Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company.

Disney Concerts produces concerts and tours, and licenses Disney music and visual content to symphony orchestras and presenters on a worldwide basis. Disney Concerts’ concert packages include a variety of formats, such as “live to picture” film concerts and themed instrumental and vocal compilation concerts, and range from instrumental-only symphonic performances to multimedia productions featuring live vocalists and choir.

Current titles include the Star Wars Film Concert Series (Episodes IV-VII), Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Fantasia, Pixar In Concert, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice In Wonderland, Frozen, Ratatouille, The Pirates of the Caribbean series (Episodes I-IV), and Silly Symphonies, which last year collectively accounted for over 400 performances in many of the world’s top concert venues, including Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Forum and the Hollywood Bowl.

Numerous new concert packages and touring productions from Disney’s portfolio of studios, including Disney’s feature animation and live action studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, are currently in development.

FILM SYNOPSIS

“You must feel the Force around you…”

The battle for the galaxy intensifies in this thrilling fifth episode of the unfolding saga. As Imperial Forces launch an all-out attack on the Rebel Alliance, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) flee to Cloud City where they are captured by Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) journeys to the mysterious, marshy planet of Dagobah, where the wise Jedi Master Yoda teaches the young hero the ways of the Force. Little does Luke know that all his Jedi training will be called upon so soon. A stunning revelation– and a seeming life-or-death duel with Darth Vader– await.

ABOUT CONDUCTOR THIAGO TIBERIO

A young and energetic talent with a quickly-expanding international career, maestro Thiago Tiberio is often praised for mature musicianship, clarity of expression, and accurate technique. His classical, operatic, and film music career includes work with the world’s most prestigious orchestras in countries such as the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Bulgaria, South Korea, China, and Brazil.

Mr. Tiberio is a specialist in live musical synchronization to film, having led orchestras in scoring sessions during most of his career. Fusing his conducting experience with an awardwinning training as a composer, he has arranged, orchestrated, and directed concert adaptations of a variety of films, most notably Love Actually, The Hunger Games, Cinema Paradiso, The Goonies, Coraline, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Get Out, Grease, and Twilight.

Mr. Tiberio’s awards include an Emmy, a Luso-Brazilian Award from the United Nations, and an International Brazilian Press Award. He was the first Western conductor to perform in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, with La La Land in Concert. At Disney’s request, he has premiered Star Wars Live in Concert in France, Portugal, and Brazil, as well as the fully-orchestrated version of Coco in Concert at Ravinia Festival, 2019.

Perhaps the only maestro in the world who makes his own batons and binds his own scores in hardcover, Mr. Tiberio is a polyglot and multi-instrumentalist in the classical and jazz domains. He lives in New York with his wife Patricia and their Maltese, Dori.

ALLENTOWN SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION (ASA)/ALLENTOWN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (ASO)

Operating the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO), El Sistema Lehigh Valley (ESLV) and owner/operator of Miller Symphony Hall, the ASA is one of the region’s premier arts organizations.Each year, the ASO performs more than 20 classical, pops, educational, and family concerts. In 2014 and again in 2017, the orchestra received the national American Prize for “orchestral excellence.”  With passion and finesse, the ASO, led by Music Director & Conductor Diane Wittry, plays time-honored masterworks, newly commissioned world premieres, and intriguing repertoire, including works by prominent new composers.

Exciting world-class artists that have performed with the ASO include Midori, Emanuel Ax, Angela Meade, and Peter Serkin, as well as jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and Broadway vocalist Christiane Noll. The orchestra’s classically trained musicians include players from the major urban centers of New York, Baltimore-D.C., and Philadelphia.

Music Director Diane Wittry is known for her innovative programming style, using video, dancers, subtitles, and other visuals that give her concerts a sense of occasion. She has been a stellar advocate for music education outreach for all ages and skill levels.

Lehigh Valley native Ron Demkee serves as the ASO’s Associate/Pops Conductor and celebrates a season long grand finale in this role. The two previous ASO Music Directors were Donald Voorhees, the distinguished conductor of the studio orchestra for NBC’s Emmy-award-winning “The Bell Telephone Hour,” and William Smith, Assistant Conductor to the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.

The ASO has received music commissioning grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and from the League of American Orchestras in support of its El Sistema-inspired program for at-risk youth. The ASA also annually hosts the National Schadt String Competition, which attracts top young performers from all over the world.

As it has for the last 73 years, the ASO continues its pursuit of excellence with passion, keeping alive the legacy of masterworks while bringing the works of modern masters to the concert stage for the entire community.