The BPO kicks off our blockbuster Pops season with hits from your favorite John Williams film scores, including Harry Potter, Home Alone, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, ET, Jurassic Park, and more.

Join us after Saturday’s concert for a Musician’s Nightcap!

Our Musician’s Nightcap series returns! Meet us on the lower level after Saturday’s performance for light conversations with BPO musicians and complimentary wine and bites. Our host, BPO double bassist Jonathan Borden, will be joined by fellow BPO musicians Christine Davis, principal flutist, and percussionist Dinesh Joseph. This special event is FREE and open to all who attend Saturday’s concert.

Program

Enrico Lopez-Yañez, conductor

JOHN WILLIAMS  Superman March
Flying Theme from E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)
The Cowboys Overture
Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Marion’s Theme from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Raider’s March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Theme from The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Theme from Jurassic Park

–INTERMISSION–

Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Anakin’s Theme from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Viktor’s Tale from The Terminal
Sayuri’s Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha
Theme from Schindler’s List
Suite from Far and Away
Main Title from Star Wars

The Coffee Concert Series is presented by Highmark

WNY Teens: Join us for Teen Night before Saturday’s performance!

Sat Sep 30
6:15pm Pre-concert party
7:30pm John Williams’ Movie Music with the BPO

Join teens across Western New York for a pre-concert party! Enjoy snacks and mingle with BPO musicians. Please respond by September 25 – CLICK HERE to RSVP!

Tickets to John Williams’ Movie Music performance are required to attend the pre-concert party. Student rate tickets are available, or Symphony Hall Pass holders can reserve free tickets with their pass through the Box Office at (716) 885-5000.

About Enrico Lopez-Yañez

Enrico Lopez-Yañez is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony, where he leads the symphony’s Pops series and other special programming. The 2023-24 season also marks his first as Principal Conductor of the “Dallas Symphony Presents” series, as well as Principal Pops Conductor of the Pacific Symphony. Lopez-Yañez is quickly establishing himself as one of the nation’s leading conductors of popular music and becoming known for his unique style of audience engagement. Also an active composer/arranger, Lopez-Yañez has been commissioned to write for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Omaha Symphony, and has had his works performed by orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Ft. Worth Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, National Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among others.

Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists, including Nas, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland, Kenny Loggins, Trisha Yearwood, Toby Keith, Mickey Guyton, Kelsea Ballerini, Leslie Odom Jr., Renée Elise Goldsberry, Cody Fry, Hanson, The Beach Boys, Kenny G, Aida Cuevas, and more. Lopez-Yañez also conducts the annual Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th fireworks show which was first televised on CMT in 2019, reaching millions of viewers across the nation.

This season, Lopez-Yañez will collaborate with artists including Ben Rector, Cypress Hill, Tituss Burgess, Vanessa Williams, Lyle Lovett, Jefferson Starship, Portugal The Man, Guster, Ben Folds, Lila Downs, and Arturo Sandoval. Lopez-Yañez will appear with the Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony, as well as make return appearances with the Detroit Symphony, National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and more. Previously, Lopez-Yañez has appeared with orchestras throughout North America including the Baltimore Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Seattle Symphony, among others.

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. Symphonica manages a wide breadth of Pops and Family/Education productions that “breathe new, exuberant life into classical programming for kids and families” (Nashville Parent Magazine). Symphonica’s productions have been described as “incredibly special – and something that needs to become the new norm” (Lima Symphony). Symphonica Productions is also a sheet music publishing house representing a diverse offering of genres and composers. Their roster of composers includes Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad, Sverre Indris Joner, Andrés Soto, Charles Cozens, Vinicio Meza, and more.

As a producer, composer, and arranger, Lopez-Yañez’s work can be heard on numerous albums including the UNESCO benefit album, Action Moves People United, and children’s music albums including The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard – winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and Family Choice Awards – and Kokowanda Bay, winner of the Global Media Award and Parents’ Choice Award.