The Wizarding World Is Coming To KL — Live Orchestra And All

Running across four nights from 2 to 5 April, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Gerard Salonga leads the MPO in performing John Williams’ Oscar-nominated score live while the full film plays on a 40-foot HD screen.

MPO

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If you’ve ever watched Harry Potter and thought, “this would hit differently with a 70-piece orchestra in the room” — good news.

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) is about to prove you right.

The MPO has announced Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Concert, rolling into Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS, KLCC across four nights — 2, 3, 4 and 5 April.

The setup is exactly what it sounds like: the full film projected on a 40-foot HD screen while the orchestra performs John Williams’ iconic score live, in real time, note-for-note.

Conductor Gerard Salonga leads the ensemble through what is widely considered the most musically ambitious entry in the Harry Potter series — the one in which Williams earned an Oscar nomination for his work, weaving in the now-legendary Double Trouble choral piece and the sweeping, melancholic themes that defined the franchise’s darker turn.

The Film That Changed the Tone

Prisoner of Azkaban is the one where the series grew up.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the third film follows Harry, Ron and Hermione into their third year at Hogwarts — facing Dementors, a shape-shifting Boggart, a Hippogriff named Buckbeak, and the looming mystery of escaped prisoner Sirius Black.

It’s darker, stranger, and more emotionally complex than its predecessors — and Williams’ score matches every beat of it.

Hearing that music performed live, in a concert hall, while the film plays overhead?

That’s not just a gig.

That’s an experience.

Part of Something Much Bigger

This KL run is part of the official Harry Potter Film Concert Series, the only globally sanctioned concert tour celebrating the films — created by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences and produced by CineConcerts.

Since the world premiere of Philosopher’s Stone in Concert in 2016, the series has drawn more than 3 million attendees across 2,973 performances in 48 countries.

This is the MPO’s third instalment of the series, following their previous runs with Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets.

If history is any indication, these four nights won’t last long on the shelf.

Tickets are already live at mpo.com.my, and if you’re even remotely on the fence, the fence is not a safe place to be right now.