Light sabers and strings: Tucson Symphony to bring 'Star Wars' to life

"It's quite boring to be honest," he said. "No diss on George Lucas, but without the music it's not an exciting film. Darth Vader walking down the hall is not exciting without that underpinning of that music."

Now imagine hearing John Williams' iconic score coming from the full force of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi battle Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire on a giant screen at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.

"It's really, really powerful to have that live aspect of the whole film experience," said Kasper, who will lead the TSO in "Star Wars: A New Hope" In Concert this weekend at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall. 

This is the second time Kasper will lead the TSO in a film concert. The former Phoenix Symphony resident conductor was at the podium in October 2022 when the TSO performed "Coco In Concert — Live to Film."

But "Star Wars" is in a whole other universe.

Your heart pounds from Williams' brass-driven B-flat major fanfare theme through to that series of rapid-fire triplet repetitions that create this "larger than life" illusion and expectation that unfolds with the credits. Williams' music evokes this mythical sense of adventure with brilliant heroic brass fanfares that segue into lush romantic orchestration.

Williams, a legendary film composer who created the memorable theme for "Jaws" two years before he composed the "Star Wars" score, wrote character-specific themes that in many ways become distinct from those characters. 

"The music is such an integral part of the film that without the music, the film would literally be nothing," Kasper said. "The music is that character that makes all of those moments so special and captures the essence.

"When the droids are walking in the desert, if you watch that without sound on ... it's a couple fake-looking robots walking in this desert. But then you put the music with it, and there's something eerie about it. There's something mysterious about it. That's what a great composer really adds to this. And I think for me, that's fun to bring out those colors in the orchestra so that it enhances that much more.

To do that takes precision. Not that conducting isn't a precision-centered profession, Kasper notes. But when you are syncing live music to a film, there's little wiggle room for mistakes. And since the orchestra can't see the movie, they rely 100% on the conductor to keep them on track.

Kasper does that with a screen in front of him that shows "streamers and punches" to keep the music in time to the film's action.

"The streamers are these lines that kind of move across the screen, and then when it gets to the end of the screen, there's a circular flash of light in the middle and this sort of tells you if you're timing it with (the film)," he explained. "Meanwhile, there's a counter of what measure you're on, what beats you're on, and all that stuff. And so you're taking the tempo from the film."

But with Williams, things are a little flexible.

"John Williams' scores — I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to say it — there's a lot of freedom musically within the scores," Kasper said. "The music's not written necessarily that each moment lines up with something particular, but it really is sort of there as another character in the film. You have time to make phrases like you would in a normal score. ... There's moments that you can catch up or let the film catch up."

Not that Kasper will stray from the prescribed timing, especially in the film's second half.

"The most difficult section is in the second half of the concert when — spoiler alert — the Death Star gets blown up," he said. "That has to be absolutely exact because it's sort of this big build up and it's really fast music and it gets loud, it gets loud, and all of a sudden, the chord happens, and the Death Star blows up. And if you're behind, you know the Death Star's gonna blow up and you're still gonna go da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da." 

Kasper, the artistic and general director of the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor for Ballet Arizona in Phoenix, will lead the TSO "Star Wars" performances at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 16, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $27.05-$108.15 through tucsonsymphony.org. 

Coming soon to theaters: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is releasing a new "Star Wars" film on May 22. "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" is the battle to keep the former evil Empire from going back to its evil past. Imperial warlords scattered throughout the galaxy are trying to destroy the fledgling New Republic, so the Rebellion enlists the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu.