by Lisa Nystrom
After an unavoidable hiatus thanks to lockdown, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is stepping back onto the stage to enchant audiences once again with this 6th instalment of their Harry Potter concert series. As the film plays in HD on the big screen, the talented musicians send our hearts soaring, and delight our sense of nostalgia, bringing Nicholas Hooper’s score to life right before our eyes.
Conductor Nicholas Buc leads the orchestra in a spell-binding performance, his energy and enthusiasm flowing through the room. The orchestra is easily as captivating to watch as the film, if not more so. Passion and emotion play out across their faces as they breathe new life into one of the most recognisable movie scores of this generation.
Matching the more serious tone of the film, Half-Blood Prince is a much darker score than the previous instalments in the series. Tumultuous, compelling, and at times even bleak, the music has a more mature feel than its predecessors, and hearing it live evokes a vivid emotional journey for the listener.
Witnessing the orchestra play out these tense and tragic moments is an experience all of its own — the way the cellists create the terrifying noises of the haunting Inferi during “Inferi in the Firestorm” alone is unforgettable.
For decades, Harry Potter has been such an all-encompassing part of the cultural zeitgeist that fans of all ages have adopted this magical world as part of their personality. The huge house banners hanging from the walls of Hamer Hall are reminiscent of the decorations in Hogwarts own Great Hall, and a quick scan of the audience shows a sea of house colours: cloaks, scarves and ties all donned in representation of their chosen Hogwarts House.
This level of devotion to the source material sets the mood for the evening, encouraging an almost interactive experience where fans voice their love for their ride-or-die favourites as they appear on screen (shout out to Luna Lovegood), and certain enthusiastic members of the audience even rouse an impromptu sing-along with Hagrid and Professor Slughorn.
As the Sorting Hat urges Hogwarts students to “be brave and strong in these troubled times”, it’s all too easy to see how that advice might apply to our current situation. Still, it’s important to find as much joy as we can amongst the darkness, and that’s exactly what the MSO is seeking to provide with these concerts: a little bit of magic for us all to enjoy.
The MSO Harry Potter concert series continues with Deathly Hallows Part One in September.
