A new hope: Worcester Symphony Orchestra goes to the movies with the 'Magic of Hollywood'

The Worcester Symphony Orchestra explores film music from a couple of different frames of reference in a concert titled "The Magic of Hollywood" at 7:30 p.m. on May 4 in Mechanics Hall.

The "Star Wars" soundtrack composed by John Williams is still a force with audiences. "That's kind of the crowd pleaser," said the orchestra's music director and conductor Roderick MacDonald.

Similarly, with Williams' "Raiders of the Lost Ark," as soon as you hear the opening, "you know the melody that's gonna come," MacDonald said. Meanwhile, the concert will mix things up a bit by including a couple of new arrangements that MacDonald has written for some landmark movies.

The Worcester Symphony Orchestra could also be said to be in search of the right kind of script to follow that will make its appearances an ongoing popular coming attraction in its relatively recent adopted home of Mechanics Hall. Audience numbers have been a bit disappointing for previous orchestra concerts there so far, MacDonald and board member Nicolas Noiseux acknowledged.

"It's a struggle. We go from concert to concert," MacDonald said. "Our concerts have had such poor attendance," said Noiseux.

The orchestra is hoping to flip the script starting May 4 and there could be a Hollywood happy ending in sight.

"I think it's looking up. I think we're gonna have a great concert. I think the attendance will be much greater than before," Noiseux said.

'I'm hoping that people still want to listen to great works'

The current name of the orchestra is relatively new, having been adopted in 2022. But the orchestra dates back to 1974, when it was founded as the Thayer Conservatory Orchestra and loosely affiliated with the Thayer Conservatory at the former Atlantic Union College in Lancaster. The orchestra later changed its name to the Thayer Symphony Orchestra as it no longer had ties with the college and performed regularly at the Dukakis Center for the Performing Arts in Fitchburg and other locations.

In its heyday, the Thayer Symphony Orchestra, conducted for many years by Toshimasa Francis Wada, performed up to a dozen concerts a year. MacDonald became its music director in 2014. But by the time of his appointment there had been dwindling attendance and constantly reduced concert schedules along with many appeals for support. The orchestra changed its name to the New England Symphony Orchestra in 2016.

In a 2018 interview, MacDonald said "We're finding our audience difficult to convince to come to our concerts in Fitchburg-Leominster." So the orchestra took a hopeful leap in a new direction beginning with a Halloween Concert that year in Mechanics Hall. "Worcester doesn't have a full-time orchestra and we thought we could be that orchestra maybe. There are a lot of naysayers out there. I'm hoping that people still want to listen to great works," MacDonald said at the time.

The New England Symphony Orchestra and now the Worcester Symphony Orchestra has been coming to Mechanics Hall for concerts if not on a full-time basis then quite regularly since then, not including the pandemic when it focused on video programing.

The orchestra's first concert with its official name as the Worcester Symphony Orchestra was in Mechanics Hall in March, 2023. A "MasterWorks" program included works by Beethoven, Bach, Brahms and Arvo Pärt.  Another MasterWorks concert last September in Mechanics Hall featured acclaimed guest violinist Sirena Huang performing the Brahms Violin Concerto.

'Culture seems to be blooming in Worcester'

The Worcester Symphony Orchestra is a nonprofit organization governed by a small volunteer board of directors and also includes the Friends of the New England Symphony who augment fundraising activities and assist professional staff. The orchestra has a core mission to "sustain and develop a symphony orchestra of the highest quality for the education, enrichment and pleasure of the citizens and musicians of Central Massachusetts and beyond." It is a member of the Worcester Cultural Coalition.

Nicolas Noiseux, a retired software engineer, joined WSO's board last fall. "I love classical music. Those MasterWorks concerts really blew me away. I thought maybe I could do some good here," he said.

He sees Worcester as "up an coming" and "culture seems to be blooming in Worcester ... It seemed like a good idea to get behind the orchestra."

However, while the concerts have showcased "some great music, attendance was maybe 300," Noiseux said, or about a quarter of what Mechanics Hall could accommodate.

As Noiseux "dug into that" he said that he believed the concerts had been "poorly marketed ... I thought we have to do a better job of this."

Although the orchestra has what he said is "a miniscule" advertising budget, it has been advertising more that in the past at outlets such as radio stations, he said.

The May 4 concert is being advertised as "May the 4th be with You."

MacDonald said that Mechanics Hall sent an email blast about the concert. "Ticket sales are a couple of hundred already," Noiseux noted, an encouraging sign over two weeks before the concert.

However, "word of mouth is probably the best," MacDonald said.

"It's not that symphonic music is new to Worcester," Noiseux noted. "Music Worcester brings a couple of symphonic orchestras a year ... These kinds of programs are not unknown here. It's just that Worcester Symphony Orchestra wants to be a resident orchestra and Mechanics Hall is a great hall to perform in," he said.

'We're gonna try and mix it up'

Part of the future of the orchestra is going to be "we need to get younger people into the seats," Noiseux said. A film concert can be part pf a "broader portfolio" of programing to "attract a bigger audience of any kind, but younger is better."

Asked if he still wants the orchestra to perform MasterWorks concerts with the classical music greats, Noiseux said "Personally yes. Besides showing off the orchestra they have something to give. They're the peak of musical achievement that needs to be put out there. But we're gonna try and mix it up."

The Worcester Symphony Orchestra isn't the only orchestra in town. The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra has had a long history in Worcester that includes summer concerts at Institute Park (the late Harry Levenson, the orchestra's founder and conductor, began what is currently known as the “Summer Family Concert Series”  in Institute Park in 1951), and the annual Holiday Pops Concert at Mechanics Hall, which dates back over 40 years. The Worcester Youth Orchestras have also ben around for a long time and have experienced a revival in recent years.

Noiseux said he's reached out to different organizations for guidance, including Music Worcester which puts on a full concert season each year, and had discussions with the Worcester Red Sox about possibly performing at Polar Park. "We're trying to increase our applicability."

Noiseux and MacDonald also said they're looking at the times scheduled for concerts, with some thought that concerts starting at 7:30 or 8 p.m. might be too late for some of the orchestra's older followers.

A Worcester Symphony Orchestra concert scheduled for Sept. 29 at Mechanics Hall will start at 4 p.m.

"Trying a Sunday afternoon might bring out more people. If it's only a time thing, we'll do it," MacDonald said.

Noiseux has great faith in MacDonald leading the orchestra. "I think he's terrific," Noiseux said.

"We have to prove we're sailing in the right direction and not a leaky boat," said MacDonald.

'The question is getting them in there'

MacDonald, who  grew up in Foster, Rhode Island, was formerly principal trumpet of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Germany, one of the world's oldest symphony orchestras. As a concert soloist he has appeared with ensembles worldwide and is also a founding member of the Leipzig Baroque Soloists. After returning to New England, he has performed with numerous ensembles in addition to conducting the Worcester Symphony Orchestra. He is also associate professor of music at State University of New York Fredonia.

Besides "Star Wars" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Magic of Hollywood" concert on May 4 will include a performance of MacDonald's short four-minute segment composition for "A Women Under the Influence," a 1974 drama written and directed by John Cassavetes starring Gena Rowlands. The segment is part of a larger piece he's written for the movie. Also, the "The Magic of Hollywood" concert will include MacDonald's new arrangement to accompany part of the movie "Dune."

"I'm taking huge advantage of the Hook organ," MacDonald said of Mechanics Hall's historic E. & G.G. Hook Organ.

"An original arrangement for orchestra and full organ in Mechanics Hall — how can things get better?" MacDonald said.

The concert program will also include music from "Harry Potter" and "Inception," and one of the encores is likely to be Henry Mancini's famous theme form the "Pink Panther."

At 6:30 p.m. there will be a "prelude concert" featuring Charlie Chaplin's 1928 black and white silent film "The Circus" with an accompaniment for trumpet and piano written by composer Herbert L. Clarke.

One of the problems for the New England Symphony Orchestra/Worcester Symphony Orchestra has been "we have not got our audience back since COVID," MacDonald said.

"Most orchestras are having difficulties. If we could build a base, I think we would continue."

When people do go to a Worcester Symphony Orchestra concert "they love it. Once you grab them with the music, you're good. The question is getting them in there."

With that, "Our audience is growing," MacDonald said. "The Magic of Hollywood" concert is the orchestra putting on a program that it knows people will like.

Sometimes MacDonald said he questions his programing. But he doesn't see the orchestra playing a concert of ABBA and the Grateful Dead.

The Sept. 29 concert will feature Austrian Romantic composer Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 to honor his 200th birthday.

Will people come?

"I think it's a matter of time. It probably goes in phases. Everything is on a little bit shaky ground right now," MacDonald said.

"But I think music can give people more meaning. I think music is a feeling that goes deeper than just the spoken word."

'The Magic of Hollywood' — Worcester Symphony Orchestra

When: 7:30 p.m. May 4; prelude concert performance of "The Circus" 6:30 p.m.

Where: Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester

How much: $40, $55, $79; students, $14. worcestersymphony.org.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Symphony Orchestra focused for 'Magic of Hollywood' concert