In 1895, the Lumière brothers presented the world’s first public movie screening in Paris. Remembered less well perhaps is the pianist who was present to accompany the monochromatic moving images with music. From its very birth, cinema has allied itself with organised sound to guide or even create the emotional reaction of audiences. This tradition grew from solo players to full orchestras and eventually found it’s home in the recording studios of America and Europe. Various composers have been associated with the genre, from Saint-Saëns, through Prokofiev, and Vaughan Williams. As the industry burgeoned, a rift began to grow between serious art music and the film score. Names like Steiner, Herrmann and Williams are most commonly associated with ‘pops’ concerts or at best, adjunct to artistically meritorious composers in the concert hall. And yet the music of film composers, often innovative and full of ingenuity, pursues the same goal as all meaningful art: to present a perspective on the human condition that stimulates and connects with audiences on an intellectual and emotional level.

Beyond the artistic merit of the music itself, the performance of scores from film, television, game and other media platforms provides numerous ways in which a community can be enriched. For many people, especially students, this genre of music is their only exposure to a great orchestral tradition worthy of discovery. In many cases these genres blend cross-cultural practices and provide an avenue to discuss this phenomenon beyond music. Unearthing the full pedagogical and cultural possibilities with media music is a key part of the mission of the FilmHarmonia Orchestra. We believe firmly in the benefits our organisation can sow as we seek to promote the status of film and media music as a legitimate form of orchestral repertoire, provide a platform for the quality expression of such repertoire among members of the Greater Sydney Region and consequently render valuable performances of music that is generally less accessible to the wider community but which unites the hearts and minds of anyone who has ever switched on a screen.