website<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe \u201cno wiggle room\u201d comment came while Murray was discussing the challenges that come with the special concerts.<\/p>\n
The films arrive with their soundtracks stripped, leaving just the dialogue and special effects. \u201cEvery note of the soundtrack is performed by the orchestra,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEssentially what happens is that the technician that\u2019s there pushes play (for the movie) at the beginning and it\u2019s up to me and the orchestra to play in exactly the same time and speeds and flexibility as the original soundtrack,\u201d Murray said. \u201cSo we have to match the film moment-for-moment across the entire 2-hour and 15-minute movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest challenge is that, with no soundtrack, the orchestra doesn\u2019t have music to line up with, he said. The musicians must do so from a series of visual cues that are in front of the conductor.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo … the movie plays on the big screen, but right in front of me is a much smaller screen, like a computer monitor, that has additional information on it. It has a counter, punches and streamers, which are these white circles that flash on the screen at certain times and these white, green and red bars that go across the screen at different times. And those are things that I use to stay in sync with the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
As usual, the orchestra takes its cues from Murray.<\/p>\n
A lot of stamina is needed, as well \u2013 more than a typical classical concert \u2013 Murray said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Jedi\u2019 demanded 57 minutes of music without pause<\/h2>\n
\u201cFor example when we did \u201cReturn of the Jedi\u201d a couple of years ago, there\u2019s a place in the second half where we play for 57 minutes without pause,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Murray said the high-caliber talent of the MSO\u2019s musicians allow them to execute the challenging programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say in any John Williams score (such as in \u201cJurassic Park\u201d) in particular, there\u2019s a lot of virtuosic (music).\u201d<\/p>\n
Musicians work ahead of time, on their own. That\u2019s because the orchestra rehearses together for only about five hours in one day for the shows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they recorded the original \u201cStar Wars,\u201d they did it over eight days, so lots of small pieces,\u201d Murray said. \u201cWhen we do these movies in concert, we have rehearsals the day before the concerts … and then we have to play the whole score. It\u2019s very demanding.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it speaks to the high level of musicians in the MSO \u201cthat everybody comes in so well-prepared that we can put it together very, very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
They haven\u2019t had any noticeable mishaps during the performances, according to Murray.<\/p>\n
Audience members have told him after that they \u2018completely forgot there was even an orchestra there\u2019 because the music was so perfectly lined up with what they saw on screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really an amazing thing what the orchestra does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nearly a decade of movies in concert<\/h2>\n
MSO began presenting the shows in 2017 with \u201cThe Nightmare Before Christmas.\u201d While Murray did not conduct that concert, he\u2019s done all since \u2013 sometimes two a year.<\/p>\n
Among other films have been several in the \u201cStar Wars\u201d series, \u201cFantasia\u201d and its sequel \u201cFantasia 2000,\u201d \u201cPirates of the Caribbean\u201d and a \u201cPixar in Concert\u201d show featuring clips from films such as \u201cRatatouille,\u201d \u201cFinding Nemo\u201d and \u201cMonsters, Inc.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tend to do a sort of blockbuster-type movie in late May, early June and then sometimes we\u2019ll add another one midseason, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray said the performances come with enjoyment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that for a lot of us, some of these movies are very nostalgic because they (contain) music that we heard growing up,\u201d he said. \u201cAlso, the energy that comes from the audience in these concerts is really exciting. They tend to sell very well … and audiences are really enthusiastic both about the orchestra and film, so that is really fun for us on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s particularly excited about the upcoming production.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never (conducted) \u2018Jurassic Park\u2019 before. It was one of my favorite movies growing up, so I\u2019m really looking forward to doing this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Audiences often become involved in the shows, with some arriving dressed in costumes from the films, he said. \u201cPeople clap and cheer when different things happen in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray said an audience member after a \u201cStar Wars\u201d concert a few years ago told him, \u2018\u2018That was the greatest experience of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was \u201cvery touching … the films hold a certain place in everybody\u2019s memories and there aren\u2019t so many opportunities today where we can go in and experience something happening in real time all together, so that\u2019s one part of (why the shows are special).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second part of it, there\u2019s really nothing like the sound of a full symphony orchestra playing live,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt elevates every element of these movies in an unbelievable way.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more on the concert and to purchase remaining tickets, see www.galloarts.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.modbee.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the Eat. Sip. Play. newsletter in your inbox Available now: Sign up here for the best food, drink and entertainment coverage in Stanislaus County. There will be \u201cno wiggle room\u201d when the Modesto Symphony Orchestra presents its concert this weekend. That\u2019s according to Principal Pops Conductor Ryan Murray, who will lead the \u201cJurassic Park […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2433207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2433206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Jurassic-Park-in-Concert-at-Gallo-Center-this-weekend.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2433206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2433208,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433206\/revisions\/2433208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2433207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2433206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2433206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2433206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}