Spotlight On John Williams City Light Symphony Orchestra & Kevin Griffiths

• John Williams (b. 1932):
• 1 Overture (From "The Cowboys") 09:30
• 2 End Credits (From "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom") 06:24
• 3 Main Theme (From "Jurassic Park") 06:16
• 4 The Flight to Neverland (From "Hook") 04:42
• 5 The Chamber of Secrets (From "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ") 03:54
• 6 Fawkes the Phoenix (From "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets") 03:59
• 7 Witches, Wands and Wizards (From "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban") 04:39
• 8 The Duel (From "The Adventures of Tintin. The Secret of the Unicorn") 03:05
• 9 March (From "Superman") 04:32
• 10 Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): I. March of the Resistance 02:39
• 11 Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): II. Rey's Theme 03:09
• 12 Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): III. Scherzo for X-Wings 02:20
• 13 Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): IV. The Jedi Steps & Finale 09:28
• 14 Theme (From "JFK") 05:17
• 15 Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: I. Closing in 02:54
• 16 Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: II. Reflections 05:58
• 17 Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: III. Joy Ride 05:09
• 18 Main Theme (From "Born on the Fourth of July") 06:38
• 19 Viktor’s Tale (From "The Terminal") For Solo Clarinet & Orchestra 04:09
• 20 Opening Credits (From "The Adventures of Tintin. The secret of the unicorn") 03:02
• 21 Nimbus 2000 (From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone") 02:17
• Total Runtime 01:40:01

Info for Spotlight On John Williams

The City Light Symphony Orchestra, founded in Lucerne in 2018, presents its debut album with the 100-minute program "Spotlight on John Williams“. For the project acclaimed soloists such as Valentine Michaud, Reinhold Friedrich and Paul Meyer could be assigned. Together with the 90 musicians of the City Light Symphony Orchestra and the up-and-coming conductor Kevin Griffiths, they recorded a selection of film music masterpieces by Hollywood icon John Williams in the concert hall of the KKL Luzern in September 2020 – with a deliberate focus on his great stylistic diversity.

Recording sessions in the concert hall of the KKL Luzern with its world-class acoustics

For conductor Kevin Griffiths, the recording sessions for this album marked "one of the most incisive events in the young history" of the City Light Symphony Orchestra. After a seven-month lockdown break, he spent ten days working more intensively with the reunited musicians than ever before. The result is the album "Spotlight on John Williams" – a dream project of the orchestra and its manager Pirmin Zängerle. He saw the opportunity to collaborate with several renowned soloists for this project during the time without concerts due to the pandemic. In addition, the concert hall of the KKL Luzern with its outstanding acoustics could be booked for recordings over the course of several days. Zängerle: "The fact that the musicians' were not fully booked certainly helped to engage so many renowned soloists such as Valentine Michaud, Reinhold Friedrich and Paul Meyer. No one wishes more fervently for a live audience back than these musicians, meanwhile recording music provided a welcome opportunity to create a production of the highest professional standard."

Reinhold Friedrich, trumpet
Valentine Michaud, saxophone
City Light Symphony Orchestra Kevin Griffiths, conductor

City Light Symphony Orchestra
As the lights dim in the concert hall, the musicians of the City Light Symphony Orchestra begin their luminous performance. Sonorous brass, virtuosic flute playing, warm woodwinds, sumptuous strings, and crisp percussion illuminate the soundscape, create emotional highlights, and conjure magical musical moments in the hall – romantic, playful, and full of energy.

The focus of the City Light Concerts series, and thus of the City Light Symphony Orchestra, is on the live performance of film music – played in perfect sync with the film on the big screen or in highlight excerpts as part of themed concerts. This gives film music a presence in the concert hall that substantially underscores its stylistic diversity and emotional power, allowing the audience to experience the film with new intensity. The repertoire ranges from world-famous film scores of celebrated classics to captivating, atmospheric scores composed for today's Hollywood blockbusters. Classical programs and crossover projects add further diversity. The City Light Symphony Orchestra performs the majority of its concerts at the KKL Luzern; it has also appeared as a guest at the Klosters Music Festival, Vaduz Classic, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The City Light Symphony Orchestra was founded in autumn 2018 as part of the launch of the City Light Concerts label. It is a Lucerne-based project orchestra that can adapt its size to the specific requirements of each concert project – from a full or even expanded symphony orchestra to smaller ensembles. Professional musicians from Switzerland and neighboring countries are dedicated to presenting the respective compositions to the audience in perfect harmony. The musical direction is entrusted to internationally renowned conductors with extensive, multi-year experience in conducting concert performances of film music – including Kevin Griffiths, Anthony Gabriele, Ernst van Tiel, and Thiago Tiberio.

The City Light Symphony Orchestra has been captivating audiences with film music since its inception. Its concert debut in the prestigious concert hall of the KKL Luzern took place in autumn 2018 with the live world premiere of "The Hunger Games." Further highlights for the young orchestra include the live world premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon" with composer John Powell in attendance, the European premieres of "Cinema Paradiso" and "Apollo 13," and performances of the Williams classics "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Home Alone." For the themed evening "Downton Abbey – in Concert," composer John Lunn and actor Jim Carter, as Mr. Carson, shared the KKL stage with the orchestra. With live performances of the Christmas comedy "Love Actually," the Pixar masterpiece "Ratatouille," the opulent live-action adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast," and the two James Bond Concert Series films "Casino Royale," "Skyfall," and "Spectre," the City Light Symphony Orchestra delighted a wide audience.

Kevin Griffiths
London-born conductor Kevin Griffiths (1978) regularly conducts concerts with the following orchestras: Frankfurt hr-Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Robert Schumann Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della svizzera italiana, Sinfonietta Lausanne, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin and Zurich Chamber Orchestras. He is also an annual guest at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad and the Vaduz-Classic Festival in Liechtenstein. From 2011 to 2018 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Collegium Musicum Basel.

Recently, Kevin Griffiths has made several CD recordings with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, conducted the Orchestre National de Lille, the Transylvanian State Philharmonic and the South-Bohemian Philharmonic. He made his China debut with the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra and returned to the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Camerata Zurich. Other engagements have taken him to the Badische Staatskapelle, Jenear Philharmonic, Meininger Hofkapelle, Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra and the Hallé Orchestra Manchester.

As artistic director of the “Academy and Philharmonic Orchestra” of the Animato Foundation, which promotes young talented musicians, he conducted the tour in 2018 throughout Europe in cities such as Prague (Smetana hall), Budapest (Liszt Academy) and Vienna (Konzerthaus). The next tour will be in 2020.

Kevin Griffiths has directed opera productions including "L'heure espagnole" and "L'enfant et les sortileges" by Ravel, "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss, "Hänsel & Gretel" by Humperdinck, "Don Giovanni" by Mozart, and "Don Pasquale" by Donizetti at the Opera House in Chemnitz.

His interest in historically informed performance is seen in his work with orchestras on original instruments, such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London or the Ensemble Musica Aeterna in Bratislava. The Mindener Tagblatt wrote about his concert with the Norwestdeutschen Philharmonie: " ... a sensational performance of Schumann 's 4th Symphony, which is a par of the exemplary recordings of Gardiner and Harnoncourt. "

Kevin Griffiths has contributed to the rediscovery of the romantic violin concertos of the Swiss composers Paul Juon and Hans Huber. He premiered both works and recorded them for the CD label Sony: "... the listener is always captivated by original ideas and rhythmic verve. The transparent sound makes an excellent impression” - klassikheute.de. He has recorded other rarities by Andreas Romberg, J. Wilhelm Hertel and Johann E. Brandl for the CD label CPO.

As co-founder and principal conductor of the London Steve Reich Ensemble, Kevin Griffiths has won international recognition for his commitment to contemporary music. For his debut CD he won the acclaimed Diapason d’Or award. His second highly praised recording with the ensemble was published in September 2011 by Warner Classics.

Kevin Griffiths regularly works with major soloists such as Sir James Galway, Pierre-Laurant Aimard, Vesselina Kasarova, Fazil Say, Isabelle van Keulen, Giuliano Carmignola, Sergei Nakariakov, Paul Lewis, Dmitry Sitkovetskzy, Michel Camilo, Royston Maldoom and members of the Berlin Philharmonic. He collaborated closely with the composers Steve Reich, Daniel Schnyder, Enjott Schneider, Lera Auerbach, Elena Firsova, Steven Mackey, Rodolphe Schacher and Oliver Waespi and premiered some of their works.

In the realm of film music Kevin Griffiths has established himself as a leading conductor accompanying the original live music to the motion picture on a large screen. Disney Studios Hollywood have accredited him as one of the few conductors for performances of this kind. In April 2018 he jumped in for Hollywood legend David Newman and directed ten Star Wars performances with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra. Shortly thereafter, he conducted the world premiere of "The Hunger Games", the European premiere of "La La Land" and James Bond “Casino Royal” as part of "City Light Concerts". He has also performed Charlie Chaplin films and he conducted and recorded the music for a documentary film about the particle accelerator CERN in Geneva.

Kevin Griffiths studied violin with Igor Ozim and Giuliano Carmignola before he began his studies as a conductor with Colin Metters, Sir Colin Davies and Yan Pascal Tortelier at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was then appointed Junior Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and worked with Sir Mark Elder. He also received a scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School, USA, with David Zinman in 2004 and 2005.

In 2010 Kevin Griffiths won the 2nd prize at the International Conducting Competition "Sir Georg Solti "in Frankfurt/Main. In the same year, following an audition, he was chosen from a large pool of applicants as the “Melgaard Young Conductor” with the “Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment”, London. He assisted Vladimir Jurowski, Leonard Slatkin, Trevor Pinnock and Sir Simon Rattle.

This album contains no booklet.