October 25, 2026 3:00pm
The Emerson Center - 1590 27th Ave, Vero Beach, FL 32960
What's Playing?
WILT Imagined Adventures Suite (WORLD PREMIERE)
I. Running on Rooftops
II. AutoBonn
III. March of the West River
POUPEL Childhood Memories (Persian Suite) (WORLD PREMIERE)
CONTI “Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky
WILLIAMS Jurassic Park Suite
WILLIAMS Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
SILVESTRI Back to the Future
POWELL “Test Drive” from How to Train Your Dragon
POUPEL Foroud, Overture for a Tragic Hero (WORLD PREMIERE)
SILVESTRI The Avengers (Main Theme)
Program Information
"The music behind the movies you love — brought to life, loud and live."
Some stories stay with you because of what you saw. Others because of what you heard. Heroes of the Silver Screen brings both together in a program that moves from childhood wonder to full-scale cinematic adventure. New music stands alongside beloved scores, with world premieres by Farhad Poupel that explore memory, identity, courage, and loss — music that feels personal while still epic in scope. Kevin Wilt’s Imagined Adventures Suite races forward with pure energy, capturing the feeling of a story unfolding in real time. Then come the moments you know: the drive of Rocky, the awe of Jurassic Park, the magic of Harry Potter, the rush of Back to the Future, the exhilaration of How to Train Your Dragon, and the full heroic force of The Avengers. This is music that built worlds — and now it fills the room. Big, emotional, and completely immersive, this is a concert that reminds you why stories matter.
Inside the Music
Some programs are connected by a composer, a historical period, or a particular musical style. This one is connected by something less tangible, but no less powerful: imagination.
Every work on this program begins with the same act of creation—the decision to envision something beyond the ordinary. Sometimes that vision emerges from memory. Sometimes it takes the form of a hero, a legend, or a distant world. Sometimes it becomes an entirely new musical landscape, heard for the very first time. Together, these works remind us that imagination is far more than an escape from reality. It is one of the ways we understand ourselves, our stories, and our place in the world.
That spirit is especially present in the program's two world premieres.
Kevin Wilt's Imagined Adventures Suite celebrates the boundless possibilities of the creative mind. Rather than depicting a single narrative, the work captures the exhilaration of discovery itself—the feeling of stepping into unfamiliar territory and allowing curiosity to lead the way. Its music embraces motion, excitement, and wonder, reminding us that some of our greatest adventures occur not in distant places, but within the landscapes we create for ourselves.
Farhad Poupel's music approaches imagination from a different perspective. In Childhood Memories (Persian Suite), memory becomes a doorway into the past, transforming personal experiences into something universal. Drawing upon Persian musical traditions and orchestral color, the work reflects on the moments that shape us long before we understand their significance. Memory has a remarkable ability to blur the boundary between what was and what remains. Through music, those memories become alive once again.
Poupel's Foroud, Overture for a Tragic Hero looks outward rather than inward. Inspired by one of the great figures of Persian literature, the work explores timeless themes of courage, sacrifice, honor, and fate. Great heroes endure not because they are invincible, but because they remain steadfast when confronted with impossible choices. The story of Foroud belongs to an ancient tradition, yet its emotional truths remain immediately recognizable today.
The program also celebrates the extraordinary role music plays in shaping cinematic storytelling. Long after audiences leave the theater, it is often the music that continues to carry the emotional weight of a story. A few notes can instantly transport us back to a beloved character, a breathtaking landscape, or a moment of triumph.
Few composers have demonstrated this more effectively than John Williams. The soaring themes of Jurassic Park capture a sense of awe rarely achieved in any artistic medium. The music reminds us what it feels like to encounter something larger than ourselves—something capable of inspiring both wonder and humility. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Williams creates an entirely different kind of magic. Mystery, curiosity, and childhood imagination intertwine to create a musical world that feels limitless in its possibilities.
John Powell's Test Drive from How to Train Your Dragon explores another form of wonder: the exhilaration of discovery. The music has become one of the defining adventure themes of its generation because it captures something universally human—the moment when fear gives way to freedom. Its soaring melodies and relentless energy embody the thrill of realizing that the impossible may be possible after all.
That same spirit of determination lies at the heart of Bill Conti's Gonna Fly Now from Rocky. Few film themes have become more deeply woven into popular culture. Its enduring appeal comes not from spectacle, but from its simplicity. The music speaks to perseverance, resilience, and the belief that extraordinary accomplishments are often built through ordinary acts of effort repeated day after day.
Heroism emerges as another thread connecting many of these works. Whether found in mythological figures, literary legends, cinematic superheroes, or ordinary individuals confronting extraordinary circumstances, audiences have always been drawn to stories of courage.
Alan Silvestri understood this instinctively. His music for Back to the Future transforms a wildly imaginative premise into a story about possibility, risk, and personal growth. His iconic theme from The Avengers approaches heroism on a much grander scale, uniting individual voices into a single powerful statement. The music resonates because it reflects a timeless belief that people are capable of becoming more than they ever imagined.
And perhaps that is the real story this program tells.
Every work presented here, whether inspired by memory, mythology, literature, or film, invites us to look beyond the limits of the present moment. Some transport us to places that never existed. Others reconnect us with experiences we thought we had forgotten. Still others remind us that courage, wonder, and curiosity remain among our most enduring human qualities.
The destinations may be different. The sense of wonder is the same.
From childhood memories to imagined adventures, from ancient heroes to modern superheroes, these works celebrate the remarkable power of music to expand our horizons. They remind us that imagination is not reserved for artists, dreamers, or storytellers alone. It belongs to all of us.
And whenever great music invites us into a new world, the adventure begins again.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are $35 in advance for adults and are available through our website or by calling (855) 252-7276. Tickets can also be purchased in person at any Marine Bank & Trust location. To find a ticket outlet near you, click here. Tickets at the door are $40. All seating is general admission — seats are not assigned.
All SCSO concerts are free for those 18 and under or any college student with a valid student ID. Discounted tickets are available through the Symphony for Everyone program.
Season 18 All Access Pass and Flex Ticket holders: Your pass or flex tickets are valid for this concert and all Season 18 subscription concerts. All Access Pass holders will find their reserved seats waiting. Flex ticket holders do not need to call ahead — simply present your tickets at the door upon arrival.
Artist Information
Farhad Poupel is an internationally acclaimed Iranian-born composer whose music has been performed by leading artists and orchestras throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Now based in the United Kingdom, Poupel is recognized for his richly expressive musical language, vivid orchestral colors, and compelling sense of narrative, drawing inspiration from literature, mythology, poetry, history, and cinema.
His works have been performed by organizations including the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the National Orchestra of Iran, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and numerous youth and professional ensembles worldwide. Acclaimed musicians such as Peter Jablonski, Jeffrey Biegel, Margaret Fingerhut, Guy Johnston, and Kotaro Fukuma have championed his music, which has also been featured on BBC Radio 3 and international broadcasts.
A frequent collaborator with performers and orchestras across the globe, Poupel has received commissions for works ranging from solo piano pieces to large-scale orchestral and choral compositions. His recent creative focus has centered on stories from the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), the great Persian epic, bringing its timeless heroes and legends to contemporary audiences through music.
Born in Isfahan, Iran, Poupel began his musical studies on the santur and piano before pursuing composition under the mentorship of renowned Iranian composer Saeed Sharifian. His music combines influences from both Eastern and Western traditions, creating a distinctive voice that is intellectually engaging, emotionally resonant, and accessible to audiences of all backgrounds.
Poupel currently serves as Composer-in-Residence of the Mithra Orchestra in Tehran and continues to build an international reputation as one of the most exciting emerging voices in contemporary classical music.
Kevin Wilt is a classical music evangelist. He composes music to introduce new audiences to the joy, drama, and adventure of classical music through familiar colors and lush textures, while engaging seasoned audiences with an underlying craftsmanship and sophistication. Composer John Corigliano praised his expert orchestration and beautiful writing, while the Bloomington Herald wrote, “[his music] has a keen sense of mood and tonal balance.”
Kevin’s recent commissions include AutoBonn for Michael Francis and The Florida Orchestra, and March of the West River, premiered at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference.
He was a resident at the Millay Colony for the Arts, and winner of the Music Teachers National Association Commission in Florida. He won the Fresh Squeezed Opera Call for Scores with his chamber opera, Prix Fixe, and the Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble Composer Search. He was awarded a grant by the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association to create Urban Impressions, a multi-movement work for large wind ensemble. He was a recent finalist for the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Call for Scores, a finalist for the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennel Prize, the Symphony Number One Call for Scores III, the Hartford Opera Theater Call for Scores, and the American Prize in orchestra, band, and chamber music categories.
Recent performances include those by the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, the Boston New Music Initiative, Fifth House Ensemble, the h2 Quartet, Project Fusion, the Apollo Fund, SHUFFLE Concert, the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, ensembles at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, Florida State University, the University of Kansas, the University of Oklahoma, Michigan State University, Kennesaw State University, as well as a reading by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Leonard Slatkin.
Kevin is equally at home composing for film and television, earning him a Michigan Emmy® Award Nomination for Best Musical Composition. Other film projects include The Inevitable, The Happy Couple, a string quartet for the short film Renegade, and The Wars of Other Men.
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition and a Master in Music Composition from Michigan State University, where he studied with Ricardo Lorenz and Jere Hutcheson, and Bachelor of Music Composition and Theory from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
He is Associate Professor of Music, Composer-in-Residence, and Chair of the Florida Atlantic University Department of Music in Boca Raton.
His works are published by Whistling Vine Music and Murphy Music Press.
