The Utah Valley Symphony and the Provo Covey Center for the Arts are coming together to create a Christmas animation and live music experience.
“The Snowman” is an Academy Award nominated animated film about a boy and his magical snowman. The Utah Valley Symphony will be accompanying the short film with music composed by Howard Blake.
According to Lance Jensen, the Utah Valley Symphony’s general manager, this type of screening and live music will be a first for Utah Valley and possibly a first for the state of Utah.
Bryce Rytting, the UVS conductor, said he’s loved “The Snowman” for years. Keeping the orchestra in sync with the film may prove a difficult task, but Rytting is ready for the challenge and even says it is the most enjoyable part.
“It is a joy to hear music live,” Rytting said. “An orchestra creates complicated sounds that are impossible to completely capture electronically, so I like the sound of our orchestra playing better than the soundtrack.”
Jensen said the film is basically worldless but has a fantastic soundtrack.
“The song ‘Walking in the Air’ is hauntingly beautiful and I tried for years to use it in one of our Winter concerts,” Rytting said. “I eventually decided it was a shame to program the music without the images. If we go through the trouble to get the visuals, it would be a shame to just to the one song.”
Rytting said the program is catered toward children and parents are encouraged to bring any child who is old enough to stay quiet through the performance.
The 26-minute film will be shown at the Covey on Dec. 2-3 at 7:30 pm. For tickets and more information, visit www.coveycenter.org
