Royal Albert Hall, April 4, 2026

Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-nominated score to Christopher Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi epic is performed live to projection on one of the UK’s largest pipe organs.

When Henry Willis built his Grand Organ for the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, it was the largest in the world. Over 150 years later, the organ’s size status has been overtaken, but I cannot imagine Hans Zimmer’s score to Interstellar sounding any better anywhere else in the world. It’s known as the ‘Voice of Jupiter’ for good reason.

Interstellar Live had its world premiere at the venue in March 2015, and I was luckily to be in the audience and watch talks and introductions by Professor Stephen Hawking, Christopher Nolan, Hans Zimmer, Michael Caine, Kip Thorne, Professor Brian Cox and Sir Michael Caine. While these four encore performances across the Easter weekend can’t boast the same star-studded line-up, it does have the heart of the score, organist Roger Sayer, who performed the organ sections of the original soundtrack.

Ben Palmer conducts the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and never puts a foot wrong across the movie. While there are sections where the score is more in the background, the big emotional and action scenes – Coop’s Departure, the giant waves, Mann’s planet and docking of the station – are superb, with Sayer threatening to blow the roof of the venue.

Verdict: A wonderful score performed to perfection by artistes at the top of their game. 10/10

Nick Joy