A knight to remember 

The New Mexico Philharmonic, along with Spot-On Entertainment, is hosting a musical night, honoring some musical knights, as they perform greatest hits by Sirs Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paul McCartney.

“The concert itself is a compilation of a number of No. 1 hits,” Karin Hendrickson, show conductor, said. “It’s a really interesting way to draw three different composers together with a concert title, ‘Music of the Knights,’ because they’ve all been knighted by the queen.”

John, Lloyd Webber and McCartney were knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in part for their contributions to the music industry.

“Music of the Knights” was produced and created by Scott Coulter through his company, Spot-On Entertainment. Vocalists Campbell Walker Fields and Alex Getlin will perform with the philharmonic.

Coulter said he structured the show as a dramatic story that captures the feel of the artists.

“What we set out to do was choose the songs that we think will stand the test of time,” Coulter said.

Walker Fields has performed with “Music of the Knights” several times and said the whole thing feels like a celebration.

“If you look down the catalog of each of these composers and musicians,” Walker Fields said, “it’s just like, hit after hit after hit after hit and so there’s never a dull moment within the show.”

Getlin said the show celebrates the legacy of the composers, whose work spans genres.

“I think what’s special about this one is that it combines three people that you wouldn’t normally in your head shove together musically …” Getlin said. “They somehow tell a story next to each other, and the whole thing feels like its own genre.”

She said there is a magic to performing with a full orchestra and hearing the songs outside their original context.

“You’ll hear things in the songs you’ve never heard before,” Getlin said.

The lineup for “Music of the Knights” includes songs like “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Hey Jude” and more.

Coulter said the songs have taken on a deeper meaning for him and the musicians, and act as a soundtrack to people’s lives.

“You hear an introduction to a song start, and your own heart and your own soul react a certain way because of what that song meant to you at a particular time,” Coulter said.

Hendrickson said the program evokes high energy, joy and nostalgia.

“It’s just going to bring back a lot of positive memories for all of the audience members about their life and where they were when they heard certain songs and who they remember seeing,” Hendrickson said.

She said “Music of the Knights” feels larger than life compared to listening to the same songs on the radio.

“It’s very rare that you get to hear 80 pieces supporting a vocalist,” Hendrickson said. “It’s really a thrill, super exciting. It’s a very powerful way to present a concert.”

Getlin said the addition of an orchestra also makes for a fabulous experience for the vocalists.

“As a singer, it just feels like you’re being supported by the most amazing force,” Getlin said.

The concert features a few orchestral-only pieces and a few that slow to piano-and-vocalist only, Walker Fields said.

“It’s very cool to go from just the full force of sound to bringing everything down and then just sitting in the stillness of just one instrument and one vocalist,” Walker Fields said.

Coulter said music is timeless, taking on different meanings as people go through the seasons of life. 

“To be able to take familiar material and interpret it in a new way, to make an audience hear it in a new way, or in a revelatory sort of way, it really is a gift,” Coulter said. “There’s nothing better.”

Elizabeth Secor is an arts fellow from the New Mexico Local News Fellowship program. You can reach her at esecor@abqjournal.com.