Thiago Tiberio is a classical conductor, composer, orchestrator, and multi-instrumentalist who specializes in musical synchronization to film. He has conducted orchestras in live-to-film concert productions for Star Wars, Pixar in Concert, Danny Elfman: Music from the Films of Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lord of the Rings, and others. He’ll be conducting the upcoming Edward Scissorhands In Concert Live To Film with the Chicago Philharmonic at The Auditorium in Chicago on October 24!
Thiago took time to answer our 16 questions about the movies and movie experiences that have made his life sweeter.
1. First movie you fell in love with
Probably The Sound of Music; I used to watch it daily after school!
2. Last movie you fell in love with
For the heart, Roberto Benigni’s The Tiger and the Snow. Fabulous film. For entertainment, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I love a well-scripted superhero movie!
3. A movie scene you’ll never shake
Perhaps not a movie per se, but in The New Look (which is a fantastic series) there is a scene at a train station where concentration camp survivors return to their loved ones. I won’t write spoilers, so suffice it to say: Ben Mendelsohn’s performance is simply stellar.
4. Movie world you want to live in
Star Wars, but only if I could be a Jedi!
5. Favorite movie theater
These days, none of them: every theater has turned up the volume to a setting that should be illegal, and I can no longer enjoy a film without wearing hearing protection. It is certainly contributing to the population going deaf. No, thanks—I’ll stay at home.
6. Theater snack of choice
Popcorn is a classic, but Trader Joe’s makes these crispy rice snacks which are like human catnip!
7. A performance that makes you LOL
Anything from 1970s Woody Allen, like Annie Hall, or Mel Brooks, such as Blazing Saddles.
8. A performance that makes you cry
Oh, so many! But Miguel playing and singing to his grandmother in Coco comes to mind.
9. Favorite childhood movie memory
Sitting with my father late at night watching Cinema Paradiso, still to this day my favorite film ever, then waking him up to go to bed once the film was over. I rarely slept more than five hours a night!
10. Movie you saw way too young
Perhaps Robocop? Maybe Short Circuit—I still remember being absolutely upset when Johnny “died.” Nobody could console me.
11. Movie you want played at your funeral
Probably the Throne Room scene of Star Wars (which has now become Episode 4). Play the music, give me a medal—which hopefully by then I will have deserved—and send me on my way!
12. Movie you’ll defend forevermore
Nolan’s The Odyssey. But it requires a glass of wine and probably about two hours of back-and-forth! Also, the whole Star Wars prequel trilogy, except for Jar-Jar. I get the idea, but sorry—some things are just not defendable.
13. Favorite movie score
Cinema Paradiso, of course. Ennio Morricone’s music is simply divine.
14. Hardest film score to conduct
Probably Disney’s Fantasia. Although the concert is a series of short films (vs. a feature-length, continuous film), it was the hardest conducting I’ve ever done in my life.
15. Lesson you’ve learned from a movie
Love always wins; everything will be alright in the end. And if it’s not yet all right, then it’s not yet the end.
16. Movie you’d pair with Edward Scissorhands
If you want to stay in Hollywood, I’d say Big Fish. Danny Elfman’s score is one of the most beautiful he’s ever written, in my humble opinion. Otherwise, I’d probably veer towards Amélie, which is similar in many ways but will cure my ever-present nostalgia of Parisian life.
