Concert Features Composer John Williams’ Complete Score from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Performed Live to Picture by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ron Spigelman

Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7:00PM | The Stranahan Theater

The Toledo Symphony Orchestra, a part of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), will present Star Wars: Return of the Jedi In Concert featuring a screening of the complete film with Oscar®-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live to the film. The concert will be led by acclaimed conductor Ron Spigelman on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7PM at the Stranahan Theater. Tickets are available now at artstoledo.com/star-wars or by calling the TAPA Box Office at 419-246-8000.

Since the release of the first Star Wars movie over 40 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 be able to experience the scope and grandeur of this beloved film in a live symphonic concert experience, when Star Wars: Return of the Jedi debuts on May 4, 2024 at The Stranahan Theater.

"This is our third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy performed live to film," says Vanessa Gardner, Vice President of Marketing and Operations at TAPA. "It's always great fun for the orchestra and audiences. You don't want to miss it. May the Fourth be with you!"

Legendary composer Williams is well known for scoring all eight of the Star Wars saga films to date, beginning with 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope for which he earned an Academy Award® for Best Original Score. His scores for The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were each nominated for Best Original Score.

Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Emmy Awards, and 28 Grammy Awards. With 54 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the Academy’s most nominated living person and the second most-nominated individual in history, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams’ score to 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to A New Hope also was preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry, for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl’s Hall of Fame in 2000, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2016.

Williams has composed the scores for eight of the top 20 highest-grossing films at the U.S. box office (adjusted for inflation).

WHAT: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Live In Concert
WHO: Toledo Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor Ron Spigelman
WHEN: Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7PM
HOW TO ATTEND: Tickets are only available through the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts by visiting artstoledo.com/star-wars or by calling the TAPA Box Office at 419.246.8000.

TAPA cautions buyers to beware of grossly inflated ticket prices promoted by third-party ticket sellers who pose as the Toledo Symphony or The Stranahan Theater. Tickets from third-party resellers are not valid.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is produced under license by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox and Warner/Chappell Music.

STAR WARS and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. © & TM

ABOUT DISNEY CONCERTS

Disney Concerts is the concert production and licensing division of Disney Music Group, the music arm of The Walt Disney Company. Disney Concerts produces concerts and tours, and licenses Disney music and visual content to symphony orchestras and presenters on a worldwide basis. Disney Concerts’ concert packages include a variety of formats, such as “live to picture” film concerts and themed instrumental and vocal compilation concerts and range from instrumental-only symphonic performances to multimedia productions featuring live vocalists and choir. Current titles include the Star Wars Film Concert Series (Episodes IV-VII), Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Fantasia, Pixar In Concert, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice In Wonderland, Frozen, Ratatouille, The Pirates of the Caribbean series (Episodes I-IV), and Silly Symphonies, which last year collectively accounted for over 400 performances in many of the world’s top concert venues, including Lincoln Center, Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Tokyo Forum and the Hollywood Bowl. Numerous new concert packages and touring productions from Disney’s portfolio of studios, including Disney’s feature animation and live action studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, are currently in development.

FILM SYNOPSIS

“I am a Jedi, like my father before me...”

In the spectacular climactic sixth episode of the Star Wars saga, Darth Vader readies the second Death Star to unleash the final blow to the Rebel Alliance. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) joins his droid allies R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), to free his comrade Han Solo (Harrison Ford), imprisoned by the vile crime lord, Jabba the Hutt. Reunited, the Rebels race to the moon of the planet Endor where they launch a desperate attack upon the entire Imperial Fleet.

But the ultimate battle is between father and son, as Luke faces Darth Vader one last time, for the fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.

ABOUT TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a community-supported organization of professional musicians and teachers who deliver quality performance and music education for all.

Formed in 1943 as The Friends of Music and incorporated in 1951 as the Toledo Orchestra Association, Inc., the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has grown from a core group of twenty-two part-time musicians to a regional orchestra that employs sixty-nine professional musicians who consider the Toledo Symphony their primary employer, as well as numerous extra players annually as repertoire demands.

The Toledo Symphony reaches more than 260,000 individuals annually through performances and education programs. The series concerts (Masterworks, Pops, Chamber, and Family Series) are the critical underpinning of the orchestra’s artistic mission and regularly draw people from 135 postal zip codes. Education programs, student performances, and community concerts are held in schools, neighborhood churches, performing arts centers, and community facilities throughout the region; many are offered at no charge or provided at a reduced fee to help expand participation.

ABOUT TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

On January 1, 2019, the Toledo Ballet and Toledo Symphony officially merged to form the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional live music and dance performances and education for the region. Stemming from an 81-year partnership and annual presentation of The Nutcracker in Toledo, this merger is one of only a few in the nation and promises to create new and invigorating programs, provide cost and revenue synergies in operations, and integrate the arts through shared educational missions.