In a world where you can fire up Netflix or Hulu and have thousands of films and TV shows to stream while lounging around in bed, it’s harder and harder to get people to come out and see a movie–or do much of anything else–in person.
Fancy theaters in the Bay Area have turned to swanky upgrades like massage chairs and chef-cooked food to get people out of their homes and into the real world.
But one San Francisco institution has a different strategy: pair the movie with a massive, world-renowned live orchestra.
The San Francisco Symphony regularly holds movie events at Davies Symphony Hall in downtown San Francisco. During these special events, a giant screen is suspended above the orchestra. They project the movie on the screen, with the symphonic soundtrack removed but the dialogue and other parts of the sound intact.
Then, as the movie plays, the orchestra performs the movie’s music live on stage, synchronized with the action.
I recently attended a movie performance of the iconic martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon so I could see one of these movie performances in action.
Firstly, simply watching a movie surrounded by the splendor of Davies Hall is an experience unto itself. A massive screen floats in front of an equally massive pipe organ, and you can have a fancy cocktail and sit in a multi-story, perfectly acoustically designed space with hundreds of other people while you watch.
This being a symphony hall, the sound equipment and projection are top-notch, which makes watching a classic film like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that much more enjoyable.
But the real power and excitement of this type of unique performance, of course, comes from the orchestra itself.
For the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon performance, the SF Symphony included its usual musicians as well as guest performers brought in specifically for the show.
Chief among them was Gao Hong, an expert player of the pipa, a traditional Chinese instrument.
Sitting in front of the orchestra in a fiery red concert gown, Hong often stole the show from the movie playing above her head. Joining her as a soloist was cellist Rainer Eudeikis, with Sarah Hicks conducting.
I remember seeing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in theaters when it first came out around the turn of the millennium. Featuring incredible stunt work, stunning action sequences, and a love story that absolutely went over the head of then-12-year-old me, it’s both an ideal movie to see in such a special setting and a fantastic one to synchronize with a live orchestra.
Pounding drums and soaring string sections build the energy of the film’s fight sequences—and these are even more impactful when you’re watching an actual phalanx of drummers pounding away at their instruments right in front of you.
Intricate swordplay and precision movements factor prominently in the film, too. There’s an obvious parallel between the expertly wielded swords on screen and the equally precise, intricate movements of Hicks as she leads the orchestra.
One of the coolest things about watching a synchronized performance is that it gives you a greater awareness and appreciation for how much a film’s musical score drives its emotional heart and complements the action on screen.
There’s an old legend, perhaps apocryphal, that George Lucas originally showed his investors and stakeholders an early cut of Star Wars before it had John Williams’ legendary score.
They hated it. When he showed it again with the score added in, it felt like an entirely different movie. The investors were won over, the film was released, and numbers like the Imperial March are now key parts of popular culture.
Watching a film with the orchestra live in front of you creates a similar awareness of the importance of the score. As the action on screen builds toward a musical number, you see each member of the orchestra soundlessly pick up their instrument and prepare themselves. Just as the action peaks on screen, they all leap into collective movement, complementing the story with their musical contributions.
Seeing a film performed onsite with an orchestra also gives a whole additional visual component to the experience.
When the action on screen drags a bit or you get tired of the dialogue, you can simply glance down and watch the orchestra—the first-chair violinist staring up at the screen above their head, the conductor taking a chance to lean on her podium and rest a bit before the next big number, or musicians carefully adjusting their sheet music, trying to flip to the next page without creating any fluttering sounds.
All this additional action gives the film a living quality that’s missing when you’re staring at a big screen at the end of a blank box, like in most movie theaters.
Again, it turns the movie into so much more than just the same content viewed on a somewhat larger screen than you’d have at home.
There’s the musicianship, the collective experience, the beautiful architecture around you, the drink in your hand—all combining to make the experience different and unique.
This is the kind of thing that gets people out of their homes—a full sensory experience, not just a somewhat improved version of what you can already do for free in your living room.
It’s also something that brings classical music novices like me out to the symphony. As I’ve covered before, the SF Symphony is innovative in the way it creates experiences that are accessible both to classical music fans and to those who know less about the music itself.
From performing with popular folk bands (shoutout to the Decemberists!) to movie-synchronized performances, that innovative culture of accessibility comes forward.
And, the SF Symphony has a whole suite of holiday-themed performances with movies coming up—from classics to kids’ movies like Frozen! Plus in 2026, there’s Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings. More on those here.
If you’ve always thought it would be fun to go to the symphony, attending one of these movie performances is the perfect ticket.
