Madison Symphony Orchestra
Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert
MSO at the Movies

Saturday, February 22 & Sunday, February 23
Overture Hall
$20 - $90
Age Recommendation
Rated PG
The second “MSO at the Movies” of the season presents “Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert,” featuring the complete film with composer John Williams’ iconic Oscar®-winning score performed live to the film. Since the release of this first Star Wars movie over 45 years ago, the Star Wars saga has had a seismic impact on both cinema and culture, inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects and iconic musical scores composed by Williams. Fans will experience the scope and grandeur of this beloved film in a live symphonic concert experience.
Featuring
Kyle Knox, Conductor
Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Warner/Chappell Music. All rights reserved.
Meet the Artists

Conductor
Kyle Knox
In the fall of 2018, Kyle Knox assumed the positions of Music Director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and Associate Conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Recent past and upcoming conducting credits include the Milwaukee Symphony (on both their Family and Connections concert series), the Madison Symphony’s Beyond the Score (including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4), their full annual Education Series (including their Fall and Spring Youth Concerts, Community Concerts, Symphony Soup, and the Bolz Final Forte), as well as Concert on the Green. In works for the stage, Kyle led Mark Adamo’s Little Women for Madison Opera, and later helped coordinate a studio artist showcase in the first ever collaboration between that company and WYSO. Other stage credits include Albert Herring, The Turn of the Screw, and Transformations with UW Opera, as well as Die Fledermaus, The Gondoliers and H.M.S. Pinafore with Madison Savoyards. Additionally he has conducted UW Music Clinic’s High School Honors Orchestra.
He was formerly a clarinetist with the Milwaukee Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and Philadelphia Orchestras, and on faculty at UW-Milwaukee. His festival credits include Tanglewood, Spoleto (Italy), Santa Fe Chamber Music, and Bowdoin Summer Music Festivals, as well as the New York String Orchestra Seminar. He has recorded for the Koch and Naxos labels and has been featured numerous times on NPR’s Performance Today.
Kyle has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, Tan Dun, Sean Shepherd, Huang Ruo, and Jonathan Leshnoff, among many others. Nico Muhly’s chamber work Service Music (2004) was written for and dedicated to him. His debut album, a recording of Conrad Susa’s chamber opera Transformations (the work’s world premiere recording) was recently released on Spotify.
Kyle studied conducting with James Smith, and clarinet with Ricardo Morales and Yehuda Gilad. He holds degrees from Juilliard and UW-Madison.
Film Synopsis
Luke Skywalker begins a journey that will change the galaxy in Star Wars: A New Hope. Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of Darth Vader and the evil Empire.
Film Stills
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