Once upon a time, orchestral music belonged to concert halls, cinemas and the grand ballet. Now it lives in the worlds we play in too. Music created for video games has grown far beyond background accompaniment, capable of building vast worlds, shaping emotion and commanding the same orchestral power as traditional cinematic staples. As a community-based, not-for-profit ensemble, the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra (KPO) embraced that evolution with an ambitious programme demanding both precision and imagination.

Under the baton of Artistic Director Paul Terracini, the orchestra took the audience through music written to make us see unseen worlds. Stripped of accompanying images, these scores stood on their own, proving their extraordinary storytelling power. From the first stirring notes, Terracini and the orchestra understood that cinematic music does not need a screen to evoke place, danger, wonder or adventure. The programme ranged from the mystical, delicate piano melodies of Joe Hisaishi’s Spirited Away to Tsukasa Saitoh’s dark, brooding theme for Elden Ring, before culminating in Howard Shore’s monumental Fellowship of the Ring Suite.

John Williams’ Star Wars Suite demonstrates the power of music to conjure an entire world. Those thrilling opening fanfares are deeply embedded in popular culture, yet hearing them performed live restored their sheer scale. Terracini drew a confident, full-bodied sound from the orchestra, allowing the brass to blaze and the strings to propel the music forward with a sense of adventure that needed no accompanying spaceship, scrolling credits or distant galaxy.

I’m a little embaressed to say I had never seen Spirited Away, nor was I familiar with Joe Hisaishi’s work. Perhaps that made me the ideal listener. I had assumed music from an animated film might be “cartoony”, but Hisaishi’s score quickly dispelled that notion. Blending American minimalism with lush, romantic influences, his music demands restraint, transparency and precise rhythms, all of which the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra handled with impressive sensitivity.

The diversity of the audience made it clear this programme had hit the mark. Younger listeners were out in force, visibly excited to hear music from the games they love performed live. Tsukasa Saitoh’s The Elden Ring is dark, brooding and thunderous, while Jeremy Soule’s Song of the Dragonborn from Skyrim is heroic, stirring and unmistakably Nordic in flavour. Hearing these scores live gave them a scale and physical force that speakers cannot match. More importantly, it offered a new generation a way into orchestral music through something they already care about. KPO is cleverly widening the concert hall’s audience, creating an accessible, forward-thinking invitation for the next generation of concertgoers.

For me, two highlights were Khachaturian’s Adagio from Spartacus and Terracini’s Benjamin. The Adagio is one of the most sweeping and instantly recognisable masterpieces in the classical repertoire, and the orchestra embraced its lush strings and soaring emotionalism with beautiful control.

There was something satisfying about hearing a conductor lead his own composition. Benjamin created a meditative, reflective pocket, drawing the ear inward with its rich string writing and shifting emotional colours. Originally written for Hymns of the Forefathers, it evokes the landscape and heritage of early pioneer life, with Terracini shaping the work through subtle changes in mood, phrasing and texture. The orchestra responded with remarkable sensitivity, allowing the music’s quieter emotional complexity to emerge without ever becoming static.

Howard Shore’s Fellowship of the Ring Suite brought the programme to its most expansive conclusion. The music is instantly recognisable, but hearing its iconic themes emerge through a live orchestra revealed how much detail sits beneath that familiar surface. Percussion came to the fore in the imposing passages, adding weight, while the orchestra captured the warmth of the Shire alongside the darker world beyond it. The result gave Shore’s score the scale and cinematic sweep it deserves.

What stays with me is the sense that this was not simply a concert celebrating familiar soundtracks, but a reminder of how expansive orchestral music can be. Terracini assembled a programme that respected the musical traditions behind these works while embracing the places orchestral composition is now finding its audience. And after taking us through worlds of magic, menace, romance and adventure, the concert ended with a surprise reprise of the Star Wars “Imperial March”. It was a fitting final flourish, bringing the programme full circle and ending exactly as it began: with a bang.

By meeting this demanding repertoire with polish, precision and expressive confidence, KPO demonstrated the immense depth of talent thriving beyond the professional circuit. This stellar accomplishment makes its next performance, Nothing Is Forever, a free concert on Sunday 20 September at Turramurra Uniting Church, well worth catching. Guest directed by Madeleine Easton, the programme ranges from Corelli to Hindson, offering another chance to hear this accomplished orchestra’s cohesion, intelligence and expressive range.

For further details about the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra and upcoming concerts see: https://www.kpo.org.au/current/

From epic scores to unexpected musical worlds, follow Faith in Theatres on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for more theatre reviews, recommendations, behind-the-scenes moments and shows worth hearing about.

Because theatre – needs Faith.