Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Composer David Arnold will be giving a special introduction to a screening of blockbuster Independence Day with live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on September 22 this year.

According to Arnold, the 1996 action SF classic is “a film that doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: a huge piece of cinematic fun with characters you learn to love, bad guys you learn to hate and spectacle that satisfied a lot of inner children who longed to smash things up. The score held hands with these ideas and followed suit.

“The Royal Albert Hall is such an iconic venue and a personal favourite of mine – it’s always an honour to be on the stage, especially with your own material. The Hall screams ‘event’ and Independence Day was one of the biggest event movies of the last 30 years.

“Hopefully my pre-film talk will get people excited all over again to see it and to really appreciate the amazing work that is being done by Nicholas Dodd – in both his orchestrations and conducting – and also the players, who may not have much puff left at the end of the evening.”

Arnold will be discussing his work scoring Independence Day, Sherlock and five Bond films, as well as the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics – before the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra takes to the stage to accompany the movie in full.

 Lucy Noble, Director of Events at the venue, added: “David is one of the most distinctive and important composers around today, and Independence Day is among his most striking works: a stirring, Grammy-winning soundtrack to a riotously enjoyable blockbuster.

“As part of the event, fans will also get a rare chance to hear David talk about his groundbreaking and wide-ranging career working on many of the most popular and important pop cultural phenomena of his era, from landmark TV shows to unforgettable films, as well as a night that made Britain the centre of the universe.”  

Tickets from £33.10 (includes £2.50 booking fee and 2% card handling fee) from the RAH: Box Office: 020 7589 8212  //www.royalalberthall.com