The Modesto Symphony Orchestra (MSO) performs Disney In Concert: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m. at the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto.

Associate Conductor Ryan Murray will lead the MSO and men of the MSO Chorus in a live performance of Klaus Badelt’s thrilling musical score based on themes of Hans Zimmer while the film is projected on a large screen above the stage.

“There is nothing like hearing a vibrant movie score performed live by a full orchestra,” said Caroline Nickel, President and CEO of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra Association. “This is the second season in a row that the MSO has presented a full-feature movie with orchestra accompaniment and to see a movie with the music performed live really heightens the experience. This is a recent innovative presentation for symphony orchestras and we are excited to have this opportunity to bring it to Modesto. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is the perfect choice as it has such an iconic film score – the audience is going to be enthralled.”

Murray’s dynamic conducting, natural musicality and deeply held passion for the arts have allowed him to steadily build a robust career since his professional debut at the age of just 22. Murray is currently the Associate Conductor for the Modesto Symphony Orchestra and Music Director for the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra; with whom he made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in 2014. Since his appointment in 2013, Murray has consistently worked to improve the quality, skill and prominence of the youth orchestra, and now leads an ensemble that features over 60 students. He is also Music Director of Townsend Opera and Resident Conductor of the Music in the Mountains Summer Festival in Nevada County, California. He is the newly appointed Director of Orchestras and Opera at California State University, Sacramento, and also directs the orchestra at CSU Stanislaus.

Murray holds degrees, summa cum laude, in Bassoon Performance and Voice Performance from California State University, Sacramento.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl stars Johnny Depp as the roguish charming Captain Jack Sparrow whose idyllic pirate life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa, steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and later attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the governor’s beautiful daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightly.) In a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl, Elizabeth’s childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) joins forces with Jack. What Will doesn’t know is that a cursed treasure has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead.

The performance is scheduled at the Gallo Center for the Arts, Mary Stuart Rogers Theater, 1000 I St., Modesto. Tickets range from $19 to $98 and are available through the Gallo Center for the Arts Ticket Office at (209) 338-2100 or www.modestosymphony.org.

Ticket office hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m.

The concert is sponsored by Boyett Petroleum and the presentation is licensed by Disney Concerts. The Modesto Symphony Orchestra is a Resident Company of The Gallo Center for the Arts.