The Music of Hans Zimmer 2025

This year has certainly got off to a cracking concert start. It’s early February and I’m already up to my third film score concert of the year!

Back in the ancient days of June 2023 I attended The Music of Hans Zimmer presented by Art of the Score. Well, they’re back!

My previous review mostly still stands, but there are a few notable differences this time.

Firstly, the venue. Instead of the Sydney Opera House, this time it is at the ICC Sydney Theatre, which can host maybe 2,500 more attendees. Again,  I find the acoustics a bit harsh, the differences highlighted by the previous two concerts. At least I got one of the best seats in the house, right in the middle, nine rows back.

Conductor and Art of the Score member Nicholas Buc is currently off in the US conducting Singing in the Rain. Another Australian conductor, Jessica Gethin, replaces him. I saw Jessica conduct An Evening of John Williams at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne in February 2022. She is a dynamic and passionate conductor and it really shows tonight.

The second personnel change is a lot sadder. Previous soloist singer Jaqueline Dark passed away not too long after the first concert. I’m glad I had the opportunity to see Jaqueline perform live. Tonight she is replaced by Cassandra Seidemann, who is given a very challenging role, that of performing music from Dune.

The concert is anchored, as before, by Andrew Pogson and Professor Dan Golding from The Art of the Score. Lots of terrible dad jokes which I appreciate because, like them, I’m also a dad.

The track listing remains mostly the same, except The Holiday and The Da Vinci Code are out and Paul’s Dream from Dune has its very first Australian symphonic performance.

Again, what I really enjoy is that the live performance highlights different elements and instruments in Zimmer’s music, compared to his frequently over-processed recordings.

My favourite of the night is Journey to the Line from The Thin Red Line. After that first performance, I knew to listen to the mesmerisingly repetitive flute and tapping that begins the piece and continues through most of it. That component gets lost in the original recording.

The electric guitar work from Clive Lendich was also a focus during the Inception Suite. I must say it was a little jarring to see an older bloke in a black suit playing the electric guides and another the rock drum kit, but that’s orchestras for you!

Simon Cobcroft did a fine job of simulating the ehru on the cello for Kung Fu Panda. I do wish that orchestras could properly procure “ethnic” instruments though.

Hornpipe was the word I was looking for about the ship dances without a partner that inspired the music for Pirates of the Caribbean. That was a huge amount of fun to listen to again, as was the Interstellar Suite that took me back to the movie and watching it on a flight last year.

It was pleasing to hear the music of Dune incorporated into the program. Although it wasn’t my new Zimmer favourite of Beginnings Are Such Delicate Times, Paul’s Dream is a great choice and very vocally challenging. In an interview Zimmer intimated that the screaming probably isn’t great for the vocal cords!

The concert ends with a suite from Gladiator, including Now We Are Free, sung well by Seidemann. Well, guess what the next concert is (at this stage)?

Gladiator Live in Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra!

The only negative for the night was the announcement that Art of the Score and the orchestra would be performing a Joe Hisaishi concert in Sydney in September after I had already bought tickets to see it in Melbourne in November!

If you get a chance to see one of these Hans Zimmer concerts or any others with Art of the Score, go for it!