Not so long ago — last year, to be precise — in a venue that’s close, close by, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra (A2SO) played two sold-out concerts featuring John Williams’ music from the Harry Potter films. The audience response was so enthusiastic that A2SO immediately started making plans to perform two concerts featuring Star Wars music, and those concerts will happen Saturday night and Sunday afternoon (October 7-8) at the Michigan Theater.

“We were so overwhelmed (last year) … and the audience, some of whom had never seen a live symphony concert before, told us that the music evoked powerful images for them, even though there was no visual component accompanying the music,” said A2SO conductor Arie Lipsky. “They also told us that they’d never thought that music had played such a vital role in the movies, and they thanked us for highlighting the music on its own. So many said, ‘Now we’re hooked on seeing live symphony orchestra shows,’ and we responded by investing in music from all the Star Wars movies.”

In fact, the John Williams Signature Edition Orchestra Score only recently became available, so A2SO’s timing couldn’t be better.

“Before, we’d used an arrangement that was available for a band or high school orchestra, but this is the real deal for us, and it’s a challenge,” said Lipsky. “John Williams’ music is very, very demanding, very difficult. When the musicians realized we were getting the Signature Editions, they asked for the music to be made available to them as early as possible, so they could practice. So we’ve all been very excited.” READ THE REST HERE