X-Men: Apocalypse is a 2016 American superhero film directed and produced by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a story by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. The film is based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics and is the ninth installment in the X-Menfilm series. It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult,Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till. In the film, the ancient mutant En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse is inadvertently revived in 1983, and he plans to wipe out modern civilization and take over the world, leading the X-Men to try to stop him and defeat his team of mutants.

The film was announced by Singer in December 2013, with Kinberg, Dougherty, and Harris attached to develop the story. Casting began in October 2014, whileprincipal photography commenced in April 2015 in Montreal and ended in August of the same year.

X-Men: Apocalypse premiered in London on May 9, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 27, 2016 in 3D and 2D, and in IMAX 3D in select international markets. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising its themes, direction, and acting performances, while the portrayal of Apocalypse, overuse of CGI, and formulaic nature of the film were criticized. A sequel, titled Dark Phoenix, was released on June 7, 2019.

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Apocalypse

A large orchestral piece, inspired by the classic film music of science fiction cinema, perfect for cross-over, pops programs. A symphonic love letter to science fiction!

Anyone familiar with the 1980s sci-fi cinema boosted by the success of Steven Spielberg should note the obvious reference in the title of this piece. The 1987 sci-fi adventure, directed by Joe Dante and produced by Spielberg, was one of my favourite movies as a teenager.

When the enthusiastic Gothia Concentus commissioned me to write Innerspace, the task was to write a stand-alone concert work that would serve as companion piece to an impressive set list of well-known genre works primarily from the world of film, but also video games. Since all of the other pieces were written for sci-fi adventures taking place in outer space, I wanted to go in the other direction - inwards.

My piece and its storyline is inspired by that of Joe Dante?s movie, and of course, even more so by the ingenious 1960s sci-fi gem Fantastic Voyage. I would not say, though, that the music itself is particularly inspired by the scores written for these films (by Jerry Goldsmith and Leonard Rosenman) - it?s more of a love letter to all of the great sci-fi music written in the past century.

Innerspace is in large doses based on an octatonic scale which I developed based on a chord progression that has been in my head since I was a teenager, just waiting for the righ opportunity to ?come out?. The piece makes a condensed journey from the stark and alarming opening, through atmospheric passages which are almost bitonal in character, via stirring action and heroic scherzo motifs to a triumphant finale.

It is my intention that this piece should be entertaining, fun and exciting for the post-modern symphony audience, as well as a lot of fun for the players and conductor who share my love for the great sci-fi movies!

Duration: ca 7:30

Instrumentation: 3(1.2.pic)3(1.2.eh)3(1.2.bcl)3(1.2.cbn) - 6652(1opt) - timp.3perc - hp.pno - str.

Mikael Carlsson
January 2019