‘Titanic’ and ‘Braveheart’ piper brings hits to The Venice Symphony

The Venice Symphony is taking audiences to the movies with the weekend concert series “A Night at the Oscars” featuring some of the most memorable film music of all time, including Hollywood’s biggest hits.

That includes themes from “Titanic” and “Braveheart,” which are connected by the composer James Horner and the performances of world renowned piper Eric Rigler, who will be the featured guest artist in the Feb. 4-5 concerts led by Music Director Troy Quinn.

Rigler, who plays a variety of Scottish and Irish bagpipes, has become one of the most prominent performers on the instruments. He has played on dozens of film and television scores, and worked with such singers as Paul McCartney, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Bette Midler and Mariah Carey.

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He will be playing Irish bagpipes for the concert, an instrument far different than the big and loud Scottish pipes that are most prominent in the Sarasota area.

“Everything about them is different. The Scottish bagpipe is a very loud instrument and you blow into it with the mouth and you’re able to be mobile and march around as they traditionally do. I’ve been playing those for 50 years,” Rigler said in a telephone interview.

“But the Irish bagpipe you play sitting down and it lays on your lap instead of over your shoulder,” he said. “You don’t blow into it. You have a bellows like they use in old fireplaces, and it’s strapped around the waist and right arm and pushes into a tube. It’s about as loud as a violin. It gives you more flexibility and plays in more keys.”

And it provides the distinctive Celtic sounds that audiences have grown to love. The “Titanic” soundtrack is one of the best-selling in history.

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Bagpipes have been heard throughout Europe and wherever “the Celtic people had passed through or stayed. They played bagpipes, but they’re most famous in Scotland and Ireland,” he said.

He first heard Scottish bagpipes as a toddler, “and from that point on, I had this enthusiastic attract to them and I asked my parents if I could learn.”

He was too young at first, but by the time he was seven or eight, his parents found a teacher from Scotland and started playing, expanding to other versions of the instruments.

Horner, who died at age 61 in a 2015 plane crash, was fascinated with ethnic music, Rigler said.

“I think once he found the place to use Celtic music and instruments of Celtic tradition – pipes, fiddles, whistles, like flute, he felt he could do a lot of things emotionally,” he said. They worked together on five films. “He was always looking for the most emotional impact he could get. This was just what he felt within himself. He was quite a sensitive person and in tune with these human emotional feelings that clearly come through in his music.”

He said they had a “wonderful experience” on their first collaboration with “Braveheart” in 1995 and continued for four more films, including “Titanic” in 1997 and the hit song “My Heart Will Go On.”

Celine Dion had a big hit with that theme song that was heard only in the closing credits. A Norwegian singer named Sissel was heard in the background music throughout the film.

Rigler will play familiar themes from both films, as well as from “The Lord of the Rings” in a concert that also will include music from such hits as “The Godfather,” “Rocky,” “Star Trek,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

‘A Night at the Oscars’

The Venice Symphony, Music Director Troy Quinn and guest artist Eric Rigler, pipes. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 and 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5, Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave., Venice. Tickets start at $31. Student tickets are half price and there are discounts for Florida teachers and groups of 10 or more. A free pre-concert talk begins one hour before each concert. 941-207-8822; thevenicesymphony.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice Symphony plays Oscar favorites with ‘Titanic’ piper Eric Rigler