Films with live music
Prepare to immerse yourself in cinema in a whole new way
No matter how often you visit the cinema, there’s always a delightful shiver of anticipation when you take your seat, the lights go down and the screen flickers to life. And that thrill only increases when the opening notes of the film’s score come from a live orchestra.
Since 2010, we’ve presented a wide range of films with live orchestral accompaniment. And in response to requests from some of the world’s leading orchestras and festivals, we’ve also created touring packages to enable other organisations around the world to present a selection of these first-class performances.
Our Films with Live Music touring programme has been presented across the globe to audiences in Los Angeles, Frankfurt Shanghai, Paris, Tokyo and Adelaide, with partners such as Sydney Festival, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl, Philharmonie de Paris and Teatro Colon. And your venue could be next.
Get in touch
For further information about our touring programme of films with live music, please get in touch.
The films you could bring to your venue
2001: A Space Odyssey
Few film soundtracks are so instantly recognisable as that of Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, which features music by Ligeti, Khachaturian and Richard Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra.
We worked closely with the British Film Institute, the film rights holders Warner Bros. and the Kubrick Estate to create a music-free version of the film and at the same time devising a bespoke score with the Philharmonia Orchestra and conductor Andre de Ridder.
Taxi Driver
In January 2017 we presented one of Martin Scorsese’s most iconic works with a live score for the first time ever, here in our Royal Festival Hall.
The brooding, shifting chords, ominous drum beat and a soaring saxophone melody in Bernard Herrmann’s last film score, delivered the night before he died, provide an eloquent, nightmarish texture to Scorsese’s hellish portrait of 1970s Manhattan.
Brief Encounter
One of the most romantic films ever made, David Lean’s 1945 weepie, devised from Noël Coward’s screenplay, has a sumptuous score including Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto.
In 2014 we commissioned a special live soundtrack to accompany Brief Encounter, and this live-music version has now become a favourite with audiences in London and beyond.
Upcoming presentations
2001: A Space Odyssey Live
Wed 19 Nov 2025
Maison symphonique de Montréal, Montréal
A Live Presentation of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Fri 9 & Sat 10 Jul 2026
Symphony Center, Chicago