'Avatar' conductor to lead DSO alongside screening of Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' movie

As a music-minded youngster growing up in the Baptist Church, it was easy for Anthony Parnther to become enchanted with Aretha Franklin.

Today, the conductor and musician says the late Detroit singer still reigns in his pantheon of “top three favorite artists,” alongside Whitney Houston and Patti LaBelle.

So it’s fitting that Parnther will be at the Orchestra Hall podium Wednesday evening, leading the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a live score accompanying the Franklin biopic “Respect” on a screen overhead.

The 2021 film, with Jennifer Hudson in the lead role as Franklin, traces the singer’s life from her childhood gospel roots through her triumphant blossoming into the international Queen of Soul.

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“The movie covers such a long period,” Parnther says. “Typically these biopics focus on one area, but this focuses on a really wide expanse. So conducting the score, we get to go through a lot of music.”

The DSO’s live play-along will involve about 40 separate pieces of music, including Franklin classics and composer Kris Bowers’ instrumental score.

It comes 25 years after Franklin herself teamed with the DSO for a memorable three-night stand at Orchestra Hall, where her catalog of hits was backed with orchestral splendor. And it's not the only Aretha event this DSO season: On May 26-28, with DSO assistant conductor Na’Zir McFadden at the helm, the orchestra will perform a selection of Franklin hits as part of the PNC Pops Series.

Parnther loved “Respect” so much when it arrived in August 2021, he caught in the theater twice.

For the DSO, Parnther’s visit brings a conductor who has become a hot Hollywood name, a go-to guy in film, TV and video games. He conducted the scoring sessions for four movies on the Oscars’ just-announced shortlist for best original score — “Avatar: The Way of the Water,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Devotion” and “Nope.”

Previous film conductor credits have included “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and animated features such as “Encanto.” Parnther is also music director with the San Bernadino Symphony Orchestra in Southern California, lauded by the Los Angeles Times for a “charismatic, captivating” style at the conductor’s stand.

Bringing the music of “Respect” to life on Wednesday will require many of the same sophisticated tricks that come with recording orchestras for film, including timed visual cues called “streamers” and a click track keeping time in musicians’ ears.

All is calibrated to precisely synchronize with the action onscreen.

“It’s really challenging to pull off. If the orchestra is a measure off, then everybody’s going to be able to tell, because it won’t sync up with what they’re seeing,” says Parnther. “It’s got to be dead on or it’s not on at all.”

DSO musicians are well-versed in the endeavor: Recent movie play-alongs have included “Back to the Future,” “Star Wars and “2002: A Space Odyssey,” along with annual holiday-season showings of “Home Alone.” Another is on the schedule for Feb. 14-15, with two performances of “The Princess Bride.”

Celebrating Franklin and her music in the Queen of Soul’s hometown is a special moment for Parnther, who grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, steeped in gospel music.

“Aretha was just somebody we always had playing on the radio,” he says.

As he matured into life as a professional musician — first as a bassoonist before breaking into the rarefied conductor world — Parnther says he came to better appreciate Franklin’s artistic gifts as “a force of nature.”

“Aretha was really special because not only was she a great singer, she was a great pianist. It was amazing to see her sit down at the piano and improvise or accomplish so many different styles. She was a tremendous musician,” he says. “I began to realize the musical choices she made as an artist were really nuanced and virtuosic in a lot of ways. She really had a command of her instrument, a command of the genre, and she was a convincing storyteller through her voice.”

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

‘Respect’ In Concert

Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Parnther

7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward, Detroit

$48 (dso.org or 313-576-5111)

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: DSO to celebrate 'Respect' with live score accompanying Aretha biopic