The talented and inventive Justin Freer (right) is
founder and president of CineConcerts, which
created the Harry Potter Film Concert Series. He’ll
again wield the wand — actually, the baton — for
the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, which has
played two previous Potter-themed concerts.
42 artsLife | SUMMER 2018
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). He also
composed and conducted the music for
the 2011 and 2012 Major League Soccer
Championship Cups in Los Angeles.
As for Williams, if you’ve ever been to a
movie — or, for that matter, watched TV —
you’ve likely heard his work.
The New York City native has enjoyed a
40-year collaboration with director Steven
Spielberg, and has scored, among other
Jaws, Close Encounters of
the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic
Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan
and all the Indiana Jones installments.
In addition, Williams has scored seven Star
Wars-
ination for Star Wars: The Force Awakens —
In Azkaban, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) —
along with friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint)
and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) —
return for their third year of adventures at
Hogwarts. Eventually, they encounter escaped
prisoner Sirius Black (Gary Oldman),
who was thought to have been a treacherous
murderer but who is, in fact, an innocent
man — and Harry’s godfather.
They also learn to handle a half-horse,
half-eagle creature known as a hippogriff,
and to repel shape-shifting boggarts. In a
climactic battle, Harry defeats soul-sucking
dementors, saving Black from a fate worse
than death.
Harry Potter has certainly been good to
the talented and inventive Freer, a native
of Huntington Beach, California, who has
been a guest conductor for many of the
country’s leading symphony orchestras.
In addition to his work with CineConcerts,
he has composed music for independent
-
hind such blockbusters as Avatar (2009) and