Jurassic Park will roar to life with the HPO
It’s the first time the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will play along with a major motion picture, performing the iconic film score of John Williams to give an immersive experience to audiences of all ages.
The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will play along with a major motion picture for the first time and it’s an epic choice — Jurassic Park.
The film score by the legendary John Williams is considered among his greatest, stretching from fantasy to adventure, and from horror to child-like wonder.
“I think what is interesting is that what (Williams’ score) brings to the dinosaurs is nobility and majesty and grandeur,” says Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, who will be the guest conductor.
“When you hear the ‘Theme from Jurassic Park,’ it's so majestic. And there's a scene where the film cuts to these dinosaurs grazing, and you think of these huge beasts that used to roam the Earth. It could have been all razor sharp teeth kind of music, but he brings out the emotions that the characters feel when they see these dinosaurs, and the emotion I felt when the first time I saw the film. I had never seen anything like that. It's just a sense of awe and wonder, as well as absolutely scathing, razor sharp terror.”
The HPO has incorporated smaller holiday movies into concerts but this is the first blockbuster, says executive director Kim Varian. An epic score by John Williams and a groundbreaking movie that transcends generations was a great place to start, she says.
“It is very fitting with the theme of this season, which is journeys, whatever takes you on a journey, perhaps through time, or maybe on an emotional journey, or, you know, a journey of experiences in your life, or travels. And we thought let's start at the beginning with the Jurassic period.”
At matinee and evening performances on Oct. 18, the movie will play in HD on a large screen, while about 80 musicians will play from the orchestra pit.
“I think it makes the thrills and chills even greater to have them live,” says Varian. “It's very popular with all sorts of genres of movies rather. And so we're very proud and thrilled to be able to bring that to Hamilton … It will be a larger-than-life experience for the audience.”
Bartholomew-Poyser worked alongside Williams three years ago at the San Francisco Symphony.
“I was covering him, so I was his cover conductor, and he did a concert of his own music from film. One of the pieces was Jurassic Park. I got a signed score of Jurassic Park from John Williams.”
While a thrill to meet a musical hero, it was also “scary,” says Bartholomew-Poyser.
“Because it's John Williams. it's like if someone were to say, ‘OK, you're going to meet, you know, Dvorak, or you're going to meet Brahms, or you’re going to meet Wagner, right? Or you're going to meet John Williams? For me, it's the same.”
Bartholomew-Poyser urges fans of Williams’ work to dive into his concert music, which he describes as intense and beautiful.
“It's almost inestimable for most of us, the impact that John Williams has had with his film music and his concert music on our lives, because you can't really separate the two. His music is the backdrop Schindler's List dealing with the Holocaust or Darth Vader or the heroism of Superman, or dinosaurs, or how many of us have trouble swimming across the deep end of a pool because of two notes written by John Williams?”
Williams, who is 93, is humble, thoughtful, rigorous and “he's endlessly inventive as a composer,” says Bartholomew-Poyser.
“We owe a lot to John Williams and he’s still writing music, and he's not stopping. You know, he has lots of music left in him.”
A highlight from the Jurassic Park score for Bartholomew-Poyser is “Ailing Triceratops.”
“It's so beautiful. It's absolutely incredible music for this triceratops, which is my favourite dinosaur.”
Another is the at the end of the movie, “The Coming Storm” and “The Hungry Raptor” where the humans are being hunted by the velociraptors.
“The part is from the moment the spoon drops in the kitchen with the two children to the final climax. Those six minutes are just incredibly difficult for the orchestra. There are thousands of notes, and it does not stop. Even the most intensive symphonies, you'd have that sort of a thing going on for maybe 20 seconds. Here, it’s six minutes of non-stop panic for the actors, for the people doing the velociraptors in the film, for the conductor, for the musicians. It's just wild, wild music making.”
Keeping the orchestra in absolute lock-step with the movie is no easy feat.
Bartholomew-Poyser will have a TV screen in front of him that uses flashes of light to indicate the beat of bar currently being played, but the downbeat of bars to come. In his ear, he has a click track that is clicking the beats all the time.
“So with one ear, I'm listening to the click. With the other ear, I'm listening to orchestra, and with my hand, I'm leading the orchestra who's relying on what they see from me to the click that's in my ear, which is lined up with the film. If you're able to pay attention to multiple things at once, then this job's for you.”
Bartholomew-Poyser has done some conducting to films before and to prepare for Jurassic Park — which he’s seen at least 20 times — he shadowed San Diego Symphony conductor Scott Terrell this summer to really learn the score.
A frequent guest conductor with the HPO, Bartholomew-Poyser has roles with the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. He is also the host of the weekly, national CBC radio show Centre Stage.
These film and orchestra concerts are popular because they are a complete experience with no distractions, he says.
“When you go to see a live event, your focus, along with the focus of everybody there, is on this one thing, which means that transported into a different sort of brain activity. You're not being interrupted by your phone. You're not being interrupted by text, by phone calls. You can focus and that's the power of this. So when you put the orchestra together, a live orchestra, it's even more immersive, and it's a cocoon from everyday life. For a couple and a half hours, you can spend some time with the best living composer in the world, and some dinosaurs.”
As with all HPO season concerts, the concert will be preceded on Friday, Oct. 17 at 11 a.m. by a Talk & Tea event hosted by composer-in-residence Abigail Richardson.
“Gain insight into the pivotal moments shaping Williams’ career, exploring his transition from jazz pianist and studio musician to prolific film and television composer. Hear how his iconic themes have helped shape storytelling on the big screen for over five decades before catching a sneak peek of the orchestra’s rehearsal for the upcoming concert Jurassic Park: Film with Live Orchestra.”
NEED TO KNOW
The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra 2025-2026 Season
Jurassic Park: Film with Live Orchestra
Oct. 18, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Talk & Tea: John Williams & the Art of the Film Score
Oct. 17, 11 a.m.
Tickets here
FirstOntario Concert Hall, 1 Summers Lane, Hamilton
