by Jon Broxton
It isn’t every day that one gets to hear a film music concert in small-town America, especially if the small town is the one in which you currently live, and even more especially one conducted by a World Soundtrack Award-winning composer, but that’s what happened on Thursday, September 4th 2025 at the debut performance of the Simi Valley Symphony Orchestra in Simi Valley, California.
The concert was staged as part of the third annual Simi Film Fest, a celebration of independent cinema showcasing feature films, documentaries and short films from across the world, including several by filmmakers based in Simi Valley, and from elsewhere in Ventura County.
The festival was first organized by WSA-winning composer Joseph Metcalfe (The King’s Daughter) and singer/songwriter/writer/director Katie Garibaldi in 2023, in conjunction with Film Simi Valley and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. Metcalfe and Garibaldi then founded the Simi Valley Symphony Orchestra earlier in 2025 in order to bring world class orchestral music to Simi Valley and to provide paid opportunities for local talent.
Metcalfe was instrumental in launching what is now the Budapest Scoring Orchestra in Hungary over 25 years ago, and since then Budapest has become one of the premier recording spots for film music in central and eastern Europe, competing on the world stage for film music commissions along with locations like Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Skopje. Metcalfe and Garibaldi have ambitions to build Simi Valley into a similar prestige location for filmmakers in California and elsewhere, who want to record live orchestral music for their projects, and want to support and utilize local musical talent while doing so.
The concert featured musical selections from numerous classic Hollywood films: Alan Silvestri’s Forrest Gump, Henry Mancini’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator, John Barry’s Somewhere in Time, James Horner’s Apollo 13, and Elmer Bernstein’s The Great Escape, as well as the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. Personally, I found two specific solo performances to be exceptional; first, the sensitive and delicate performance of “Gabriel’s Oboe” from Ennio Morricone’s The Mission by principal oboist Lynn Olson; and second, the sensational performance of the theme from John Williams’s Schindler’s List by violinist Boris Markosian, whose emotional and moving rendition resulted in an extended standing ovation upon its completion. Also worthy of special acknowledgement were the numerous prominent piano performances by Elaine Lister, who is also a current Simi Valley City Council Member.
In addition, there were four special performances of music and songs from other mediums. To celebrate the increasingly dynamic world of orchestral video game music, Metcalfe conducted an extended suite from composer Grant Kirkhope’s 2017 score for Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle; Kirkhope jointly won the World Soundtrack Award for The King’s Daughter alongside Metcalfe and John Coda in 2022. Then singer-songwriter Katie Garibaldi performed the song “Dear Universe” which she wrote for her own 2022 short film This and That.
Finally, the concert saw the world premiere performances of suites of music from two short films in competition at the 2025 Simi Film Fest: the psychological thriller Ripple scored by Greg Nicolett, and the magical fantasy Stone Garden scored by Forrest Gray. Both films were directed by Alysha Haran, and she, Nicolett, and Gray were all in attendance at the concert to support the event. Gray was later awarded the Best Score prize at the Simi Film Fest awards.
The ambition that Metcalfe and Garibaldi have to bring orchestral film music to cities like Simi Valley, and to showcase classic scores and composers in an environment that also celebrates emerging filmmaking talent as part of a wider film festival, is enormously laudable, and hopefully in years to come the festival, the accompanying concert, and the Simi Valley Symphony Orchestra will grow in stature, quality, and prestige – there are already plans to add Best Orchestral Score and Best Non-Orchestral Score categories to the festival awards in 2026. Based on the reception they received from the audience on Thursday, it’s just a matter of time.
Photos courtesy of The 805 Standard and Greg Nicolett.