Star Wars: A New Hope: Interview with Francis Choiniere

Our teen blogger had the opportunity to interview Francis Choiniere, FILMharmonique’s conductor who is bringing Star Wars: A New Hope to TD Place November 30 -December 1.

In the world of art, soundtracks for movies tend to be among the most overlooked mediums. Being overshadowed by the narrative of their host films, and by other compositions, these scores are typically not appreciated outside of the cinemas. However, Orchestre FILMharmonique is an exception. With their orchestral rendition of the Star Wars soundtrack approaching, I interviewed FILMharmonique’s conductor- Francis Choiniere.

Before we discuss Star Wars, I wanted to learn about  you and your career. How did you get into the classical music business?

I started as a composer; in high school I was writing small symphonies and doing my own orchestral writing. When I was around 17 years old, I had the chance to conduct my first orchestra and it was a really memorable experience. There was something unique about being on stage and performing not only my own work but other people’s music as well. It really inspired me to connect all those musicians on stage and create something beautiful. 

So you started off very young. You are only in your mid-20s now; how did you advance so quickly?

I would say it was a slow start, I have been in the business for eight or nine years now, so it has been gradual. At first, I only had around two or three concerts a year and that totally stopped when the pandemic hit. Once covid relaxed a bit, I began full blown conducting. I was happy to start touring with the two orchestras I’m with- OPCM and Orchestre FILMharmonique- around Canada. Orchestre FILMharmonique is the orchestra that I’ll be conducting for the Star Wars show and they have the core initiative of fusing the classical and film genres of composition.

You mentioned that FILMharmonique primarily does soundtracks. What in particular made you interested in Star Wars music?

Well, I have loved John Williams’ music for a long time. I really admire his orchestral writing and, coming from a classical background, you can really appreciate the complexity that goes into his work. His genius and effort is clear when you can fully immerse yourself in his music, which is what this concert will do. 

And what can people expect from this upcoming concert at TD Place?

It's both a visual and auditory experience. You’re getting the entire film- Star Wars: A New Hope- with a live orchestra playing in sync with the soundtrack. This means that I’m there conducting 74 musicians on stage with brass, springs, woodwinds and percussion to give you the full orchestral experience. When you are watching the movie at home, the music is edited to be in the background of dialogue, but at this concert, it will be much more immersive. 

Finally, what is next in your career?

That's an open question for me. I’m still deciding where I want to be in the next 5 to 10 years. I definitely want to continue expanding our tours within Canada and the United States and hopefully begin tours in Europe as well. While travel for work is a major goal, I will remain based in Canada, because we have such a rich and diverse musical culture. I hope to remain a contributor to that culture for a long time. 

If you want to watch Star Wars: A New Hope with a live orchestra as a soundtrack, checkout Orchestre FILMharmonique’s performance on November 30th or December 1st at TD Place. The show will begin at 7:30 pm. FILMharmonique is partnering with GFN Productions to make this multimedia presentation a reality. For more information, click here.

David is a fifteen-year-old aspiring adventure and travel writer living in Ottawa.  Skydiving is on his bucket list. He received a complimentary ticket for this post, but all views are his own.

Minecraft, Turtles, and Star Wars...oh my!

by Karen

Something that no one ever told me about parenthood was that there would be a revolving door of interests that my child will commit every iota of passion his little body can muster into loving, before leaving them collecting dust in his room - or the back of his mind. 

In the last three years (he's almost 7), here's a rough idea of what we've run through:

1. Thomas the Tank Engine
2. Star Wars (this one has remained constant, because I am doing my best to raise him right)
3. DC Comics (so far, not much interest in Marvel)
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 
5. Sonic
6. Minecraft
7. Angry Birds
8. Skylanders
9. The LEGO Movie
10. All things Mario (of Nintendo fame)
11. LEGO Chima
12. LEGO Ninjago
13. Even LEGO Friends (because toys are not for boys and girls, they're for kids big and small)

It's possible I've forgotten more than what's on the list above. One of the best parts about my little man's passionate dedication to each of these interests is that he wants to inhale every morsel of information about them that he can. He's a fairly advanced reader and he loves nothing more than getting character encyclopedias, handbooks, and anything else he can get his hands on to read. He's also not above mixing his interests. I adore that Brandon's school allows him to bring these books every single day he wants. They are eager to encourage reading of any kind.

Two years ago, on Valentine's Day, I bought Brandon his first LEGO set. It was just a small generic set, but now he's hooked. He also got the idea from Evantube (careful showing this channel to your kids - it's a bit addictive) that he should keep his boxes, in pristine condition. 

So we do.

Ah, the things you'll do to foster the interests your kids have. (Velcro is your friend.)

It's fun and mind-dizzying and I know more about each of the things on that list than I ever wanted to know. Of course, fostering these interests along with a strong love of reading means that he's keen to educate me and his dad on every minute detail. 

Sounds fun, right?

So, what is your little minion into these days? :)

Karen Wilson is a mom to Brandon (6) and wife to Matt (who is glad to have a 6-year-old as a new excuse to play with toys...er, LEGO). Her latest claim to fame is having found enough LEGO studs to buy Lord Business in The LEGO Movie video game. She's thinking of starting a business - Stud Finder for Hire.

Star Wars Identities opens in Ottawa May 10

by Tanya On the last day of our vacation last summer, we took a special trip to the Montreal Science Center to visit Star Wars: Identities.

What is it?

Yes, yes, a Star Wars exhibit. Big surprise, I know. But this was more than just costumes and props. Identities is a socio-psychological look into what makes us who we are.

The tour requires a headset and RFID bracelet, which allows for an interactive component. The exhibit consists of a dozen stations with monitors which play videos on a loop. Each video explains some component of personality and individual identity, exploring how our identities form from our upbringing, our social networks (IRL, not online ;) and our choices. [Yes, they do talk midichlorians. Can't ignore those, sadly.]

There are RFID stations where you get to build a character by selecting their appearance, their planet of origin, and then responding to a series of questions about their behaviour and actions. You can associate your character with that of other visitors, so in our case, hubby, The Dude and I are all connected. What I loved was that the final choice is whether to join the dark side: in the end, it's always a choice regardless of where you come from :)

The final station is where you can see your character as a whole and email their backstory to yourself for future reference.

This is my character, ElanalE. (I decided I wanted to create a name that was a palindrome; you know, balance in the force and all that). #nerd She's a senator who fights with the good guys. [Click on the image if you want to see what a full profile looks like.]

The Verdict

This was a lot of fun. First of all, we'd never been so close to so many Star Wars props and costumes in our lives. In addition to our excitement over seeing the Yoda puppet and Anakin's podracer (which is HUGE), we were stunned by the size of the battle droids, which were over 7 feet tall! They always seemed so much shorter in the movies.

The audio-visual stations were all interesting, even for the Dude. Granted he is 9, and this was not his first audio tour. I did wonder whether the content would go over his head, but his knowledge of the movies helped keep him interested. There are definitely some younger kids who couldn't care less about the audio portion of the tour, and who could not read so the RFID stations were redundant for them too. I'd suggest that this is best for kids who can read and who have enough attention span to listen to 20+ minutes of audio broken into 10 stations.

The RFID stations were the most fun. The Dude worked alone, which forced him to read the quizzes and answer questions himself. In the end, we all enjoyed comparing our characters and our selections. The dinner conversation consisted of comments such as, "Da-ad! I can't believe you joined the dark side!!!"

It took us about 90 minutes to get through the entire exhibit, reading a good majority of the panels, listening to all the stations and doing all the interactive components. We arrived early and took in the other two science activity rooms open in the museum (think Toronto Science Center, only much smaller) which kept us somewhat busy but didn't fill the entire time we had before our tour. All in all, we totally loved it. (And before you ask, since we did such a comprehensive tour, once was enough for that exhibit.)

Tips

• If you don't know the movies, you can still enjoy the exhibit. The psychological approach means that the content is relevant to anyone interested in humanity, not just the movies. Although knowing the movies does make the content much more relevant.
• Little kids seemed pretty bored. And when they tended to get loud, it made it hard to hear the audio tour. If you're little one has no attention span, best to keep them out of the way of audio stations.
• If you get to a station when a video is already playing you're better off touring the neighbouring displays and coming back when it starts over.
• Buy tickets in advance; it's too busy to just show up and hope you get in right away. People commented on the site that they arrived early in the day and got turned away until mid-afternoon. Some days are even sold out.

(Editor's note: the exhibit opens in Ottawa this Friday, May 10th and runs until September 2)

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