BOOK BITES   .   .   .

MUSIC BITES .  .  .

AN OSCAR CELEBRATION - FAVORITE FILM CLIPS WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

THE SANTA BARBARA SYMPHONY WITH GUEST ARTISTS CONDUCTOR CONSTANTINE KITSOPOULOS & HOST LESLIE ZEMECKIS

by Bonnie Carroll

Host Leslie Zemeckis and Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos

The Santa Barbara Symphony with guest conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos and Host Leslie Zemeckis, best-selling author, actress, documentrian, film producer and director presented An Oscar Celebration in Collaboration with the Granada Synergy Series, a collection of award-winning film clips in tandem with the memorial musical compositions that made these great films historic and unforgetable. The two hour concert was preceded by a brief introduction from conductor Kitsopoulos.

Guests were gifted small Oscar statuettes and posed on the red carpet for fun photos during intermission, and the overall reactions of the audience were fantastic. The audience seemed to absolutely love this combination of film and symphony and the informative preludes by Leslie Zemeckis before each film were illuninating. The talented area resident was a vision in gold standing on stage next to conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos.

Selected films included Erich Wolfgang Korngold, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, Max Steiner, Gone With The Wind starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, Miklos Rozsa, Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston, Bernard Herrmann, Citizen Kane starring Orson Welles, George Gershwin, An American in Paris starring Oscar Levant and Herbert Stothart, The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland. The scenes selected were perfect examples of the importance of great music composition in film.

Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos Talking with the Audience before the Concert

All films were courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Turner Entertainment Co. with special thanksto John Waxman. An Oscar Celebration! is a production of PGM Productions Inc. (New York) and appears by arrangement with IMG Artists. Production credits to Producer John Goberman and Music Consultant John Waxman.

Many thanks to the principal concert sponsors Sarah & Roger Chrisman, Artist Sponsor Christine A. Green, Selections Sponsors Isabelle Meyer Stapf & Emmmanual Stapf and Susan & Bruce Worster, 2023/24 Season sponsors Sarah & Roger Chrisman, Montcito Bank & Trust and Grand Venue Sponsor The Granada Theatre as well as The Santa Barbara Symphony & Nir Kabaretti, Music & Artistic Director.

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