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License to thrill: It’s an evening of intrigue, espionage and glamour, when Pacific Symphony Pops presents “The Music of Bond. James Bond,” a concert featuring some of the most famous pieces in cinematic music. Led by guest conductor Carl Davis, the full symphony orchestra performs the electrifying and dramatic melodies that accompanied the ultra smooth and debonair ladies man on his M16 secret missions. With more than 20 films and seven “James Bonds,” the film series is one of the longest running in history, dating back to 1962 and continuing through today. Throughout the concert, Maestro Davis and the orchestra explore the last five decades of “007” music with images from the iconic movies magnified on the big screen. The program features British vocalist Mary Carewe, singing the quintessential hits from the numerous Bond movies including “Goldfinger,” “From Russia with Love,” “Thunderball,” “Licence to Kill,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” “Live and Let Die” and more.
The concert takes place Thursday through Saturday, June 16-18, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall—transformed into a “Casino Royale” setting, where vintage Aston Martins are parked outside, and guests come dressed-to-kill (as favorite Bond characters) and sip martinis “shaken, not stirred.” Original movie posters are being placed throughout the lobby. Tickets are $25-185; for more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit www.PacificSymphony.org.
“The music of James Bond was always very important to the films because they are fantasy films,” says Davis. “You need evocative music to sustain the surreal world of James Bond. Since it is such a long cycle of films, they cover a big scope of popular culture’s development in musical style. So the first films have rather crooning, ballad-type songs such as ‘From Russia with Love.’ Then the films progressed to such hits as Paul McCartney’s ‘Live and Let Die,’ and Duran Duran’s “A View to Kill.” After the rock and roll came rhythm and blues. The films have always been on the cutting edge of popular music in their time, so the story is very interesting to follow.”
Vocals are performed by Mary Carewe, one of the United Kingdom’s most exciting and versatile singing talents. Equally at home on the concert platform or in the recording studio, she sings a wide variety of music from pop standards through Broadway showstoppers to contemporary classical cabaret pieces. With performances around the world with Davis, Carewe has made these iconic James Bond themes her own and has sung them with such renowned orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, The Hallé, CBSO, Ulster Orchestra and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall.
“The strongest songs were written for women across the cycle of films,” says Davis. “As soon as we got Shirley Bassey’s voice in ‘Goldfinger,’ they acquired a kind of stature. Suddenly we have Nancy Sinatra, Carly Simon…and later on the rhythm and blues of Gladys Knight in ‘Licence to Kill’ and then K.D. Lang’s ‘Surrender.’ The films have left a legacy of female artists, so I was looking around for someone who could take on the lot in her own way while doing the songs a good service, and Mary Carewe has been fantastic. We’ve been working together for about 10 years, and she’s got a very polished act now.”
A consummate all-round musician‚ Davis is widely known internationally in many spheres of music-making. Born in New York in 1936‚ he studied composition with Paul Nordoff and Hugo Kauder‚ and subsequently with Per Nørgaard in Copenhagen. His early work in the U.S. provided valuable conducting experience with organizations such as New York City Opera and the Robert Shaw Chorale. In 1959, the revue Diversions‚ of which he was co-author‚ won an off-Broadway Emmy and subsequently traveled to the 1961 Edinburgh Festival. As a direct result of its success there‚ Davis was commissioned by Ned Sherrin to write music for “That Was the Week that Was.” Other radio and TV commissions followed and Davis’s U.K. career was launched. Since then he has been enormously successful in the world of theatre‚ composing scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre‚ and working closely with such artists as Laurence Olivier‚ John Gielgud‚ Joan Littlewood‚ Jonathan Miller‚ John Wells‚ Barry Humphries and Billy Connolly.
“It’s very exciting,” continues Davis. “The orchestra thinks it’s fun. It’s certainly different from the usual concert repertoire, and the arrangements are great. At the same time, there are people, especially in America, who are obsessive about James Bond. In England, James Bond is the rugged version of Superman. He lives in every part of him. He’s about drinking, he’s about guns, he’s about gambling, and he’s about women. But he has this global pulling power that’s really quite extraordinary.”
The Saturday night concert is sponsored by Farmers and Merchants Bank. Pacific Symphony’s Pops series receives additional support from its official hotel, The Westin South Coast Plaza; official airline, American Airlines; official Pops radio station, K-Earth 101; and official television station, KOCE-TV.
