LIU Post University’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts will have its very own performance of the entire “Jaws” soundtrack on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The roughly 2-1/2-hour performance will begin at 3 p.m., courtesy of the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra. It will celebrate the blockbuster film’s 50th anniversary and is part of LIU Post’s Homecoming Weekend festival.
The film in its entirety will be played at the concert, and the music will be played live in sync with the movie from an orchestra consisting of about 80 musicians.
“The way these these live-to-screen productions work is that they use a specially modified soundtrack that removes the orchestra and, in some cases, the chorus,” said the orchestra’s director, David Bernard, who has been with the group for over a decade.
The Tilles Center’s main stage has a total of 2,188 seats and has more than 70 performances each year ranging from Broadway musicals to rock concerts to symphonic orchestra concerts. The Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra is LIU Post’s resident orchestra and has played at the Tilles Center before, including the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” last year.
The “Jaws” main theme was composed by John Williams for the 1975 summer blockbuster. It won Best Original Score at the 1976 Academy Awards.
“The sound that John Williams creates for ‘Jaws’ is actually very innovative and even back 50 years ago, you take that score and you look at it today, it’s still innovative, right? You have a large orchestra, you have keyboard and synthesizer, you have a huge percussion section. You have full string sections, a single harp [as well] and so that’s part of what makes it spectacular,” Bernard said.
“To actually come and see it with a live orchestra is an incredible experience,” he added.
To learn more about David Bernard, visit https://www.davidbernard.com/. To get tickets for this performance, visit https://www.tillescenter.org/event/jaws-in-concert.
