Walnut, California, January 28, 2003—Film composer Elmer Bernstein returned to Walnut High School for their annual “The Magic of Movies & Music” concert at the Walnut Performing Arts Center on Thursday, February 13th, at 7:00 PM.

This year marks the fifth year that Mr. Bernstein has conducted the music students from Walnut High School, which has a special magnet-school music program under the direction of Buddy Clements. Dr. Clements, a former composition student of Mr. Bernstein’s at USC’s Thorton School of Music in the mid 1980s, had asked the Maestro at that time if he would consider conducting a high-school orchestra when his students were ready. Ten years later, Bernstein made his first guest appearance as conductor for Clements’ student orchestra.

The program varies each year. The 2003 movie themes included a diverse group of Bernstein’s seminal scores, including: “Far From Heaven” (2002 winner for Best Film Score: Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association, Seattle Film Critics, Online Film Critics Association), “Kings of the Sun,” “Glorious Hill Waltz from “Summer and Smoke,” “Ghostbusters,” and the perennial favorite, “The Magnificent Seven.”