Presents

From Stage to Screen

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Hopkins High School

Keehun Nam, Music Director

Concert Program

William Tell Overture, Giacchino Rossini (1792 – 1868)

Symphony No. 7, Movement II, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Danse Macabre, Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo, Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)

West Side Story: Selections (arr. Mason), Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

A Tribute to John Williams

Program Notes

By S.M. Pargal

William Tell Overture (1829)

Composed in 1829, William Tell is the last of Rossini’s operas. The overture has taken on a life of its own as it was used in numerous high profile mainstream media such as the Mickey Mouse cartoon The Band Concert (1939), The Lone Ranger (1949), Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), Bugs Bunny’s Overtures to Disaster (1991), and Indiana University’s basketball games among many others. However, the fast-paced familiar tune from William Tell is only the last of four parts that make up the overture. The first three parts depict a storm: before the storm, the storm itself, and then after the storm.

Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 II. Allegretto (1813)

Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was premiered at a charity concert for Austrian soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau. There, Beethoven remarked “we are moved by nothing but pure patriotism and the joyful sacrifice of our powers for those who have sacrificed so much for us.” The joyous and patriotic themes are present throughout the symphony and especially in the second movement. The Austrian audience adored this movement so much at the premiere that the Allegretto was played again as an encore. Its victorious connotations make the Allegretto movement perfect for use in film and TV with notable appearances in the climax of The King’s Speech (2010), the opening sequence of Jacques Demy’s Lola (1961), and throughout scenes of ‘Westworld’ (2018) among others.

Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (1874)

The Dance of Death as a medieval tradition can be traced to the Black Death of the 14th century as a way to confront the inevitability of death, reckon with loss and devastation, and allow the grieving mind to imagine an afterlife of togetherness and revelry. Skeletons are beckoned by a personification of Death to rise at midnight and dance together until dawn on Halloween, offering a reprieve from the darkness present in other iterations of death. Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre follows this story, with the opening harp playing the twelve chimes of a clock at midnight and the solo violin playing the devil’s chord. Danse Macabre is used in film and television to reference the devil, Halloween, and other spooky happenings. It can be heard in the 2024 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, Shrek The Third (2007), and as the first entry in Walt Disney’s “Silly Symphony” series in 1929 titled The Skeleton Dance.

Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo (1890)

Intermezzo, which might be some of the most beautiful minutes in all of the orchestral catalog, represents the serene beauty of the countryside, juxtaposing the darker feelings stirred by the characters in the opera. The Intermezzo has stood the test of time with notable features in the opening sequence of Raging Bull (1980), a recent appearance in ‘The Bear’, and in the finale of The Godfather: Part III (1990).

West Side Story: Selections (1957)

Bernstein blended Central and South American dance rhythms with avant-garde explorations of the jazz and classical music worlds to create this remarkable sonic world. The Jets’ “Cool” is cited as one of the first rock fugues in music history, while “America” features both compound meter and a twelve-tone row (the use of all 12 notes in an octave). The result is a musical that continues to enthrall audiences to this day, whether it is in the movie theater, stage, or concert hall.

A Tribute to John Williams (2004)

Legendary film composer John Williams wasn’t always destined for silver screen fame. Born in 1932, Williams’ family moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 where he became involved in the local jazz scene. Following a short stint in the Air Force, Williams attended Juilliard and switched his focus to composition after realizing ‘[he] could write better than play’.

Williams had his first breakout film score with None but the Brave, a 1965 anti-war epic produced in collaboration with Frank Sinatra. Williams would go on to win his first Oscar in 1971 for scoring and adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof. He would become a household name with Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). With Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981), and E.T. (1982) he sealed his meteoric rise to fame, while more recent series such as Harry Potter (2001-2011) and Superman (1978-2025) have renewed interest in his music for new generations of moviegoers.

This medley features music from Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and E.T.

Biographies

Keehun Nam, Music Director

Nam currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Southeast Minnesota Youth Orchestras, where he conducts the top ensemble and sets the artistic vision for the season. He has served in numerous leadership roles, including Interim Director of Orchestras at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, Musical Director of the Ithaca College Sinfonietta, and Founder of the Vanderbilt Commodore Orchestra. Nam’s guest conducting appearances span both North America and Europe, with performances in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria.

A native Minnesotan, Nam grew up in Eden Prairie and holds a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from Ithaca College and a Bachelor’s degree in Musical Arts from Vanderbilt University.

Please consider making a donation to the WSO.
Your generous contributions make our music possible!

Thank You to our WSO Donors

(August 2024 – Present)

Thank you to our reception sponsors:

Flowers provided by: