Us small! Titanic big! It’s a big show! In the second-ever such concert/film screening in the United States, the blockbuster film Titanic will be shown on a vast LED outdoor screen with James Horner’s epic score performed live by the New West Symphony. The special event will take place on the campus of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on Saturday June 22.
Horner and James Cameron attended the first Titanic Live screenings accompanied by a full orchestra performing the movie’s score at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April 2015, just weeks before the composer’s untimely death in a plane crash. “London was a great way to honor James for what he had done for the film,” said Cameron in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “It never really got said properly in 1998 at the Oscars ceremony. He took his bows at the end [of the London debut]. It felt like a triumph. I think that’s the score he’s proudest of.”
Attendees of the June 22 event will see the complete film (3 hours, 22 minutes with intermission) projected on a vast LED screen and brought to life through the extraordinary sounds of the New West Symphony Orchestra and singers, in a launch of the Symphony’s 25th season.
Born in Los Angeles in 1953, Horner spent his formative years in London where he attended the prestigious Royal College of Music. His initial interest was to become a composer of serious, avant-garde classical music. Returning to his native California, Horner continued his music education at the University of Southern California, where he received a Bachelor of Music in Composition. He then transferred to the Masters program at UCLA, where he earned his Doctorate in Music Composition and Theory.
During his time at New World, Horner met a young cameraman named James Cameron, with whom he would later collaborate on the hit sequel Aliens and, of course, Titanic. In the ensuing years, Horner has gone on to collaborate with many of Hollywood’s most noted and successful filmmakers, including Ed Zwick, Joe Johnston, Phil Alden Robinson, Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, Mel Gibson, Oliver Stone, Philip Noyce, Michael Apted, Lasse Hallstrom, Norman Jewison, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Titanic Live is being presented by New West Symphony in partnership with CSUN/The Soraya and California Lutheran University. Titanic Live is an Avex Classics International Production.
The film has particular resonance for the New West Symphony. “James Horner was a local resident beloved by people both within and outside of the entertainment industry,” says New West Symphony CEO Natalia Staneva. “Some of our orchestra members played on the film.”
Titanic Live | New West Symphony | William Rolland Stadium on the campus of California Lutheran University | June 22 | tickets