Chills on chills on chills.
The theme song for season 2 of White Lotus already comes with a classical vibe, opening with angelic harps followed by an operatic voice taking over the synth melody from season 1, but the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra absolutely owns their version. Elevated by soprano Ella Taylor, the song builds to a bombastic, spine-tingling finish worthy of a bend-and-snap standing ovation from Jennifer Coolidge.
The performance took place at the inaugural European Classical Pride event at the Barbican Centre in London. In celebrating “the profound contribution that the LGBTQ+ community makes to classical music,” the program included work from Leonard Bernstein and Tchaikovsky, but Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s White Lotus theme was the only song from a television show.
Conducted by Oliver Zeffman, the performance absolutely explodes in the second half with a full choir joining Taylor and the orchestra, all of them crescendoing wildly with Taylor very clearly rocking out while belting out. Not only is it a stellar performance, it’s filled with an unbridled joy that demands to be put on repeat.
Plus, no one dies! That’s a pretty major bonus, although HBO series does tend to make the most of its dead bodies.
