Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Concert
Featuring John Williams’ score performed live to film by the MSO
Conducted by Benjamin Northey
Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 May 2025Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Tickets on sale 10am Friday 7 June, visit mso.com.au
Experience the scope and grandeur of this beloved film in a live symphonic concert experience from 22 – 24 May 2025, when the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra presents Star Wars: The Force Awakens in Concert with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ score performed live to the film.
Since the release of the first Star Wars movie over 40 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects and iconic musical scores composed by Williams.
Conductor for the Force Awakens concerts, Benjamin Northey said “John Williams’ scores are essential to the Star Wars world, and the music is a joy to playing live alongside the film. It adds another level to the storytelling with new senses hopefully being awakened.”
Thirty years after the destruction of the second Death Star, the sinister First Order, commanded by the mysterious Snoke and apprentice Kylo Ren, rise from the ashes of the Empire. The Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, attempts to thwart the First Order’s threat, but they’re desperate for help. Rey, a desert scavenger, and Finn, an ex-stormtrooper, find themselves joining forces with Han Solo and Chewbacca in a perilous mission to return a BB-unit droid back to the Resistance with a map to Luke Skywalker.
Legendary composer Williams is well known for scoring all nine of the Star Wars saga films to date, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope for which he earned an Academy Award® for Best Original Score. His scores for The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were each nominated for Best Original Score.
Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe® Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy® Awards and 25 Grammy® Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second most-nominated individual in history, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected his score to the 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope as the greatest American film score of all time.
Event details
Dates: Thursday 22 & Friday 23 May, 7.30pm and Saturday 24 May, 1.00pm
Venue: Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Tix on Sale: 10am Friday 7 June
Visit: mso.com.au