I am so happy that I am finally on winter break (it has been a rough week) and it was really nice to begin it with such a fun concert last night! The Utah Symphony continued its Films in Concert series with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix shown on the big screen while the orchestra performed the score by Nicholas Hooper (with variations on themes composed by John Williams) live. In Year Five at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Voldemort (Ralph Finnes) is back with a strange connection to Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) but there are many, including the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy) and several of Harry's classmates, who do not believe it is true. Fudge places Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in order to stop the students from preparing for an attack. In response, Harry gathers a group of his friends, including Ron (Rupert Grint), Hermione (Emma Watson), Neville (Matthew Lewis), Luna (Evanna Lynch), Ginny (Bonnie Wright), and Cho (Katie Leung), to train with him in secret as Dumbledore's Army. Eventually, Dumbledore's Army travels to the Ministry of Magic to fight the Death Eaters who are trying to retrieve a prophesy about Harry from the Department of Mysteries. This leads to a confrontation in which Voldemort tries to possess Harry (I like how Harry mimics Voldemort's mannerisms throughout). This movie is much darker than the ones preceding it so there are two really sinister themes, one for Dolores Umbridge and one for Voldemort's invasion of Harry's mind, which are introduced and feature lots of deep percussion (it was really cool to watch all of the drummers in unison). There are also some more lighthearted themes, such as when Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson) and other members of the Order of the Phoenix fly with Harry through London to get to Grimmauld Place and when Fred (James Phelps) and George (Oliver Phelps) disrupt the OWLs with their homemade fireworks, that are really whimsical and fun. My favorite aspect of these concerts (especially the Harry Potter movies) is that audience participation is encouraged! There is always a House roll call before the concert begins (I am Ravenclaw, obviously) and there are cheers (the loudest was for Dumbledore) and boos (the loudest was for Umbridge) for the various characters when they appear on screen (people booed every time Umbridge appeared on screen). This concert was so much fun and I highly encourage getting a ticket to tonight's concert (go here for any remaining tickets).
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