A young musician will premiere with the Columbus Symphony as he has with several other large orchestras across the nation. Charlie Kirby, a 10-year-old on the rise to fame, will conduct his favorite piece from John Williams Star Wars' favorite, "The Imperial March."
He's a young man with a dream. Charlie is also known as Darth Vader and has gone so far as to don the Vader outfit when performing. As is with a passionate artist, there's an intangible element to conducting that resonates with him.
He says to WSAV, "I think I just liked being up there conducting, I thought it was pretty fun." He also goes on to note that popular music didn't strike him as much as movie scores did. John Williams and the Star Wars saga as well as the Indiana Jones soundtrack instead were the discs of choice for his repertoire.
Charlie has conducted several times with the LaGrange Symphony, debuting as Indiana Jones in full costume when visiting. Moving from the LaGrange orchestra, he's extended his career after winning an adult guest conductor contest on Facebook for the Atlanta Symphony.
His mom, Kathy, acknowledges that this passion of his stems from his childhood penchant for classical music. She said, "Beethoven was really his thing. He would go around singing sections of it, he'd hear it again, then he just started conducting."
While his future as a conductor is up for question, it certainly is a way for Charlie to have fun and express himself accordingly.
The Columbus Symphony's Family Pops Concert will feature a tribute to John Williams featuring Star Wars all the way to Harry Potter -- all of which are among Charlie's echelon of favorites.
You can purchase your tickets to that concert here and be sure to check him out below for the time being.
