Concert - The Cinematic Scores of Alexandre Desplat: A Spellbinding Night at the Hollywood Bowl

By Mulder, 19 june 2025

When you hear the name Alexandre Desplat, you're not just thinking of a composer—you're summoning the soul of modern cinema itself. On July 15, 2025, at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, this titan of film music will step onto the podium to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert celebrating his extraordinary career. Titled The Cinematic Scores of Alexandre Desplat, the event promises a sweeping journey through the scores that have shaped the emotional landscape of the 21st-century silver screen. This is not just a concert; it's a tribute to one of the most decorated and quietly influential artists in contemporary film history. And if the thought of live renditions of The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water, or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows already gives you chills, imagine the added thrill of the maestro himself guiding every note under the stars of Los Angeles.

Alexandre Desplat’s journey to this moment is as epic as any film he’s scored. Before the accolades, before the Oscars and Grammys, before his name was stitched into the fabric of Hollywood blockbusters, he was composing for European auteurs like Jacques Audiard, Francis Girod, and Philippe de Broca. In those early scores, often nuanced and thematically rich, you can already hear the DNA of what would become his signature: elegance without excess, emotion without melodrama. It wasn’t until his hauntingly delicate music for Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) that Hollywood came knocking, and it hasn’t stopped since. That piece remains in the setlist for the upcoming Bowl concert, a nod to the score that cracked the American industry wide open for him.

Over the past two decades, Alexandre Desplat has become the go-to composer for directors with strong visual and narrative voices—Wes Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Kathryn Bigelow, David Fincher, George Clooney, Greta Gerwig, and Ang Lee, to name only a few. His ability to adapt, to intuit the emotional cadence of a scene or the essence of a character without overwhelming it, is uncanny. It’s why he’s earned not just two Academy Awards (The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water), but also two Golden Globes, two GRAMMYs, and a constellation of other honors. But more importantly, he’s earned the trust of filmmakers who rely on him not to decorate their stories, but to deepen them.

The Hollywood Bowl program reads like a musical memoir, spanning decades of cinematic history and encompassing everything from the fantastical (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) to the regal (The Queen, The King’s Speech), the romantic (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and the socially resonant (The Imitation Game). There will be a full Wes Anderson Suite—a whimsical, syncopated trip through Fantastic Mr. Fox, The French Dispatch, and of course, The Grand Budapest Hotel. There will also be a Suite Royale, capturing the dignified melancholy of The Queen, the understated defiance in The Lost King, and the rhetorical triumphs of The King’s Speech. The breadth is astonishing, but it’s the tonal cohesion—always unmistakably Desplat—that binds it all together.

And then there are the surprises. While the press notes tease “surprise performances,” one can’t help but speculate about inclusions from Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein, which would mark their third collaboration after Pinocchio and The Shape of Water. Or perhaps a taste of Jurassic World: Rebirth, Universal’s big summer tentpole scored by Desplat and set to release just weeks before the concert. Either would be a stirring reminder that Alexandre Desplat is not resting on his laurels—he’s still shaping the sound of tomorrow’s cinema.

There’s also something poetically fitting about this event happening at the Hollywood Bowl, a venue synonymous with musical majesty and cinematic spectacle. One can imagine the night air alive with the eerie undertones of Godzilla, the shimmering romance of Benjamin Button, and the triumphant swells of The Imitation Game. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, known for its precision and passion, is the perfect vehicle for this repertoire, and under Desplat’s baton, each cue will be more than a performance—it will be a resurrection of moments that have moved millions.

For longtime fans, the concert offers a rare opportunity to witness Alexandre Desplat not just as a composer, but as a conductor—a dual role that underlines his deep understanding of not only writing music but bringing it to life. For newcomers, it’s a masterclass in what film music can be when placed in the hands of a storyteller who speaks in melodies instead of words. This is not just a celebration of a career—it’s a gathering of ghosts and dreams, projected not on a screen, but through the instruments of an orchestra, all summoned by a man who has quietly scored the emotional arcs of a generation.

July 15 at the Hollywood Bowl isn’t just a date for music lovers or cinephiles—it’s a pilgrimage. To hear the work of Alexandre Desplat performed live, with all its nuance and grandeur intact, is to be reminded that film music doesn’t just accompany a story—it is the story, whispered into your heart long after the credits roll.

The run of show for the July 15 Hollywood Bowl performance will include selections from Desplat’s expansive catalog, as well as a few surprises:
-       Godzilla (2014)
-       The Imitation Game (2014)
-       The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
-       Wes Anderson Suite:
o   Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
o   The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
o   The French Dispatch (2021)
-       Pinocchio (2022)
-       Suite Royale
o   The Queen (2006)
o   The King’s Speech (2010)
o   The Lost King (2022)
-       Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
-       The Shape of Water (2017)
-       Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Suite (2010/2011)
-       Surprise performances

(Source : press release)