{"id":114484,"date":"2025-05-21T16:01:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T20:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=114484"},"modified":"2025-05-22T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:00:01","slug":"preview-ontario-pops-orchestra-ends-2024-25-season-blockbusters-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/05\/21\/preview-ontario-pops-orchestra-ends-2024-25-season-blockbusters-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Ontario Pops Orchestra Ends The 2024\/25 Season With Blockbusters In Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_114487\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114487\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-114487\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20.jpg\" alt=\"Music Director Carlos Bastidas and The Ontario Pops Orchestra (Photo courtesy of Ontario Pops Orchestra)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-114487\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Music Director Carlos Bastidas and The Ontario Pops Orchestra (Photo courtesy of Ontario Pops Orchestra)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Ontario Pops Orchestra will add a finale to their 2024\/25 season with a concert that includes movie music and two of the giants of the classical canon. The Music of Hans Zimmer &amp; Blockbuster Classics on May 31 combines some of Zimmer\u2019s best known scores with Schubert and Beethoven.<\/p>\n<p>Soprano <strong>Leslie Higgins<\/strong> joins OPO for the concert. Higgins earned a Bachelor&#8217;s degree from Western University, and a Master&#8217;s of Music from the University of Toronto. Today, she is a faculty member of the Royal Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\n<p>On the program:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Gladiator by Hans Zimmer<\/li>\n<li>Ave Maria by Franz Schubert.<\/li>\n<li>At the Movies with Hans Zimmer (Selections from: Man of Steel, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises)<\/li>\n<li>Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg<\/li>\n<li>Hans Zimmer: Movie Milestones (Selections from: Driving Miss Daisy, Gladiator, Madagascar, Crimson Tide and The Lion King)<\/li>\n<li>Pirates of the Caribbean by Hans Zimmer<\/li>\n<li>Symphony No. 8 by Ludwig van Beethoven<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_114488\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-114488\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-114488\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Hans-Zimmer-profile.jpg\" alt=\"Composer Hans Zimmer, September 17, 2018 (Photo: ColliderVideo \/ CC BY 3.0 \/ Cropped)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"855\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Hans-Zimmer-profile.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Hans-Zimmer-profile-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Hans-Zimmer-profile-1024x730.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Hans-Zimmer-profile-768x547.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-114488\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composer Hans Zimmer, September 17, 2018 (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/collidervideo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ColliderVideo<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY 3.0<\/a> \/ Cropped)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Hans Zimmer &amp; The Movies<\/h3>\n<p>Zimmer grew up in a music-loving family, but rejected formal lessons. He became a fan of film composer Ennio Morricone, and he&#8217;s often said in interview that&#8217;s what spurred him to become a movie music composer himself. However, his musical career began with keyboards, synthesizers, and bands like The Buggles, and Krisma, an Italian new wave band.<\/p>\n<p>But, even as he was performing and at times producing rock and pop singles through the 1980s, he began writing music for advertising jingles by the mid 1980s, and partnered with Stanley Myers, a prolific composer, to found the Lillie Yard recording studio. The two composers shared a vision of music that blended orchestral sounds with electronic instruments. It&#8217;s still his carrying card today.<\/p>\n<p>His music is often touted as the quintessential modern soundtrack for fantasy, action, and thriller movies, but his catalogue includes a wide range of movies from Driving Miss Daisy to Kung Fu Panda.<\/p>\n<p>Zimmer\u2019s musical style is characterized by a kind of late Romantic Austro-German style at its heart, often using dark minor keys, dramatic ostinatos and dynamic ranges. The Pirates of the Caribbean score is among his best known, including a fugue-like treatment of the main theme, and stellar string writing.<\/p>\n<p>He almost didn\u2019t take on The Lion King project when it was offered to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t want to do Lion King, because I don\u2019t really like Broadway musicals,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/2013\/11\/hans-zimmer-on-the-classic-films-hes-scored.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he says in an interview<\/a>. \u201cI thought that\u2019s what Disney wanted from me, but they kept saying, \u2018No, no, no, we really like that you don\u2019t like Broadway musicals. We want this to be different.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He changed his mind, according to interviews, because his daughter was six years old at the time, and due to the nature of the movies he\u2019d written for previously, she\u2019d never been able to attend any of the premieres.<\/p>\n<p>And, of course, a few years later, The Lion King became one of Broadway\u2019s biggest hits.<\/p>\n<p>Zimmer is responsible for the music for more than 200 projects, which so far, have won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five GRAMMY Awards, along with three Emmy and one Tony Award nominations.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhat ironically, he\u2019s become so famous as a film composer that he now often takes to the stage as a performer again.<\/p>\n<h3>A Crowd Pleasing Program<\/h3>\n<p>With its combination of classical luminaries, classic songs and movie music, it\u2019s a program with dramatic flair.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find tickets and more details about the May 31 performance [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariopops.com\/concertstickets.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? 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Send us a\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"mailto:anya@ludwig-van.com?subject=Let's%20chat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em><u>note<\/u>.<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! \u2014 local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid=S3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid%3DS3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1695737525351000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0QTqKRwRJQFGK3KoJYigxX\">HERE<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ontario Pops Orchestra will add a finale to their 2024\/25 season with a concert that includes movie music by Hans Zimmer, and two of the giants of the classical canon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":114487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,76,18,19,49,4557,63],"tags":[37419,40180,37418],"yst_prominent_words":[17009,29811,15113,15109,9875,6616,33471,33470,33473,15114],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Copy-of-PREVIEW-20.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-tMw","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114484"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114498,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114484\/revisions\/114498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114484"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=114484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}