May the orchestra be with you.

Make that orchestras. Not one, not two, but three different classical ensembles will perform the music of Star Wars in Montreal over the next 60 days.

Leading the charge is Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert, April 19 and 20 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts, with music by the 80-piece Orchestre FILMharmonique, featuring musicians from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre Métropolitain playing the iconic tunes while the original Star Wars movie screens in the background.

Front and centre is the music of U.S. composer John Williams, famous for his scores to cinematic classics including Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, ET the Extraterrestrial, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and the first three Harry Potter films.

“Composers and directors have to work together,” said New York conductor Erik Ochsner, who will oversee the Montreal concerts. “John Williams was able to find the emotion; his music tells the audience how to feel.

“He was inspired by so many greats: Fucik, Dvorak, Holst, Stravinski. In some ways he is honouring the greats. At the same time, he piggybacks on them to make sure he’ll stay part of the canon of classical music. It’s unabashedly romantic, big and bombastic.”

Ochsner is a specialist at conducting these types of orchestral film events, and gets hired around the world for just that purpose. Last summer, he was at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, leading La La Land In Concert, also at Place des Arts.

He has conducted concert versions of Mary Poppins, Back to the Future, Pirates of the Caribbean and the 2009 Star Trek reboot, among others.

While classical music purists might turn up their noses at such crossover concerts, Ochsner has no problem with the concept.

“Film is popular culture,” he said. “These kinds of events have been a great partner to symphony orchestras, bringing them new audiences and helping sell tickets. I’m not ashamed to say I’m an entertainer. People love it, so let’s do it.”

Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert is produced by new Montreal company GFN productions, which put on an orchestral version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in January, and will follow with Fantasia In Concert, June 22.

“I call it modernizing the classical music industry to reach a larger audience,” said GFN president Francis Choinière.

“We get people to show up for a live symphony orchestra who otherwise wouldn’t,” added vice-president Gabriel Felcarek.

“It’s music people know and love,” Choinière continued, “so they connect with it on a different level.”

After brushing up on the original Star Wars soundtrack, fans can head to Université de Montréal’s Salle Claude Champagne, where the 50-member Orchestre à vents de musiques de films (OVMF) performs the music to the Empire Strikes Back, June 8, 9 and 13.

“John Williams offers a lot of content,” said OVMF artistic director Jocelyn Leblanc, who rearranged all the pieces for wind instruments. “Often a film composer will have one or two themes, which they stretch over a film. He doesn’t do that. He takes scenes and gives them a soul by making music just for the scene.

“His compositions are catchy, simple and complex at the same time. They have themes that everyone can sing, but beneath that is an incredible complexity.”

The OVMF will perform the Empire Strikes Back music without the film screening in the background, due to the cost of acquiring the rights. But that hasn’t deterred fans; tickets for the first two concerts are already sold out.

Leblanc started the OVMF nearly 20 years ago, and has seen its popularity continue to grow, as evidenced by big turnouts for recent performances of Jurassic Park and a tribute to Japan’s Studio Ghibli.

“This is our best year since we started,” he said.

Film music has also been a great way for the Orchestre harmonique Leonardo Da Vinci (OHLDV) to draw bigger crowds.

The 45-piece St-Léonard community orchestra performs a decades-spanning tribute to the entire Star Wars oeuvre, May 4 at the Centre Leonardo Da Vinci. While it’s a treat for the audience, tackling Williams’ elaborate compositions is a challenge for the OHLDV players, notes conductor Patrick Morin.

“Performing Star Wars gets

them to push their limits as musicians,” he said. “This music is not always easy. It provides them with a challenge that requires intense concentration.”

That challenge is welcomed by baritone saxophonist and orchestra president Hélène Louis-Seize.

“John Williams is something else,” she said. “(Learning this music) has allowed us to evolve; it’s very motivating. When you hear these songs that you know, performed by your own orchestra — wow, it’s magnificent.”