CineConcerts and Warner Bros. Launch “Harry Potter” Concert Series

Back in August, J.K. Rowling sent out a tongue-in-cheek tweet about how a Harry Potter television show would come “[r]ight after the opera, Potter-on-ice and the interpretative dance version of Beedle the Bard.” While none of those things are happening (yet), we can add another Harry Potter source of entertainment to the list of things to come this year: Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. and CineConcerts have teamed up to  launch a series of Harry Potter film concert tours!

The concert series will begin with a Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone tour this year, and Variety writes,

The Harry Potter Film Concert Series” will reformat each “Harry Potter” film into an orchestral concert experience that offers audiences a live symphony orchestra performance of the entire score in-sync with the film, which will be simultaneously projected onto a high-definition 40-foot screen.

Saying that the dialogue and sound effects from the films will be “kept intact,” CineConcerts president Justin Freer commented,

All the music is pulled out of the film, so that’s one of the interesting challenges — mixing the live music against the dialogue and the effects.

Describing the Harry Potter franchise as “wonderfully unique,” he added,

The ‘Harry Potter’ film series is one of those once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomena that continues to delight millions of fans around the world. We now have an opportunity to add to the following.

Wondering when you can get the chance to see the concert series for yourself? Harry Potter fans in Philadelphia will be the first:

The Harry Potter Film Concert Series” will premiere at Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts on June 23 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The San Diego Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Pops and Symphony Silicon Valley will perform John Williams’ “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” score during later stops on the North American tour.

CineConcerts has also created concerts themed around other popular films, including Gladiator, The Godfather, It’s a Wonderful Life, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Star Trek.

According to Variety,

Tickets for the Philadelphia premiere of ‘The Harry Potter Film Concert Series’ will be available through Ticketmaster, MannCenter.org and Mann Center’s box office starting Feb. 20.

Are you excited for a Harry Potter concert series? Have you been to a CineConcerts concert before? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!