MSO Casino Royale: Interview with Nicholas Buc

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) take on the ever-popular James Bond franchise this May with Casino Royale in Concert. Spend the night eyeing Daniel Craig zig-zag through the jungles of Madagascar or waltz on the white sand beaches of the Bahamas or play a decent deck of cards, and ultimately, save the day. For the first time, the MSO will bring David Arnold’s thrilling musical score in sync with the film.

The concert will be led by conductor Nicholas Buc, whose passion for film music was first ignited at the age of 12 when he say his first Bond film, The Living Daylights. We were lucky enough to chat with Buc about the upcoming Casino Royale in Concert and were left shaken, not stirred.

For Milk Bar readers that might not know you, tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a composer, conductor and arranger living in New York City, but I am originally from Melbourne. I moved to NYC to study in 2014 and ever since then it’s been my home base. I travel 6–9 months of the year, mainly conducting live film concerts around the world, with the rest of the time spent on composing and arranging projects. I’m currently doing all the orchestral arrangements for the MSO’s upcoming shows featuring the film music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

What preparation is involved in putting Casino Royale in Concert?

As a conductor, the first step is to learn and prepare the score. Since we are playing live to picture, one must really know the tempos of the music by watching the film many times. As a diehard Bond fan, that’s no problem with me! We’ll then get 2–3 rehearsals witht the orchestra in which to put it all together and then, after a couple of martinis, we’re ready to go.

In three words, how would you describe the score in Casino Royale?

Muscular, delicate, exciting.

On your podcast The Art of the Score, a couple of episodes focus on the James Bond franchise. What is it about the scores from these movies that fascinates you?

The Bond scores have charted the history of so many musical forms: spy music, pop music (through the iconic title songs) and film scoring in general. Despite cinema undergoing huge changes since the 1960s, there is still an “essence” of Bond music that carries on in today’s Daniel Craig-era films. There is always a balance of sophistication, swagger, excitement and seduction in the music, and I don’t think that will ever change.

Touching on your podcast again, what is one film that you can’t wait to analyse?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Howard Shore’s music has such a large scope and there is a huge amount of detail and thought that went into the scores. It’s immense, but we’re all slightly scared of tackling such an enormous musical opus!

Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan, Craig – who is your favourite Bond?

Connery will always be the best, but I have soft spots for each actor that has played the character. The perfect Bond would actually have qualities of all of them!

And, finally, what’s next for you?

I’m about to conduct the North American premiere of How To Train Your Dragon, then I’ll be doing the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. But what I’m most excited about is conducting the world premiere of the new live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Lion King in August. The original film is a part of so many people’s childhoods and the music is just fantastic.

Book your ticket to either the Thursday, 23 or Friday, 24 May show and spend your night entertained by the likes of Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Eva Green and go on the musical masterpiece that will be MSO’s Casino Royale in Concert.

Casino Royale in Concert
Thursday, 23 and Friday, 24 May 2019
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, 100 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
mso.com.au/whats-on/2019/casino-royale-in-concert