One of the most decorated composers of our age, Hans Zimmer, graced the Whitby’s theater in Midtown for an in-depth conversation and exclusive Q&A session about his music and career.
The Academy and Grammy award winner also announced the start of his super-hit Hanz Zimmer Live tour in North America this fall after a 7-year hiatus. Fans will get a chance to hear his most iconic scores from some of the biggest films in cinema history. Including music from Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Interstellar, The Last Samurai, The Lion King and Dune, for which Zimmer received his second Academy Award.
Loud cheers filled the room when he revealed his surprise performance planned at Madison Square Garden for New York fans on his birthday, Sept. 12.
Melena Ryzik of the New York Times moderated the talk where the “Hollywood Rebel” (according to BBC) went into detail about his perception of doing live tours and performing on stage.
He didn’t hesitate to name-drop two musicians for encouraging him to “come out of his windowless room.” He credited Pharrell Williams and Johnny Marr for forcing him out of the closet and giving him the confidence to face thousands of people on his mega tours.
Talking about his childhood memories, Zimmer said, “My first memory is music.”
The award-winning composer only had two weeks of formal training at the age of six, thanks to his refusal to learn what others have already written.
His mother arranged a piano teacher, seeing the interest young Hans had developed around music. He agreed, thinking that the teacher would help you bring “this noise you hear in your head, these tunes, and they will show you how to put it under your fingers.” But he felt disappointed.
“That’s not at all what they do. All they do is they make you play other people’s music. And I don’t want to play other people’s music. And they smack you across the knuckles when you don’t read,” he added. “So, I went to my mother after two weeks and said, It’s either him or me.”
Delving further into his past, he said he distinctly “remembers the day when my feet had grown enough that my feet could reach the pedals. So that was like a big day to me. It was like, well, now I can go and play those bass notes.”
At the panel, Zimmer was flanked by his lead vocalist for Dune, Loire Cotler, and exhilarating cellist Tina Guo. Guo, who has worked with Zimmer for more than a decade, praised his unique direction to bring scenes alive through music.
“I am classically trained, but that all goes out the window because in the end, I think music, film, it’s all about raw, visceral emotion, and passion,” she said.
Zimmer has a way to stir the pot of imagination, and in Dune, she added, “We had a problem and he said, ‘Just try to imagine an orgy at the edge of the universe.’”
The Q&A session started right off the bat with a rather daring question from one of the attendees.
“You have a very prolific career. Is there an end in sight? You see your retirement date for you at some point,” an audience member asked.
“Are you kidding me,” he replied. “I’ve played all my life. Why would I stop? Why would I stop living a playful life? Why would I stop trying to, you know, inventing things?”
Hans Zimmer Live kicks off in Duluth, GA at the Gas South Arena, on Sept. 6 and will visit 17 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Tickets are available starting March 22, 10 am EST.
