Gustav Holst’s The Planets was cinematic long before cinema knew what to do with it. In its seven movements audiences heard war, wonder, dread and the infinite decades before blockbuster soundtracks borrowed its thunder.

Its gravitational pull has since been felt on films such The Right Stuff, Conan the Barbarian and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Now the familiar orchestral showpiece is about to be recast again, not as background music for a movie scene, but as the emotional engine of an entire, bespoke film.

On 1 May, Sydney Symphony Orchestra presents the world premiere of Symphonic Cinema: The Planets, in which the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall audience will view a new silent film created by Dutch director Lucas van Woerkum, performed live in tandem with the orchestra. 

On screen are the British actors Emma Thompson and Greg Wise. On the Concert Hall platform, Benjamin Northey conducts Holst’s score, and in the orchestra itself sits van Woerkum, triggering and shaping the film in real time as the music unfolds.

It is not a screening with accompaniment, nor a conventional “film with live orchestra” event. Van Woerkum calls it “symphonic cinema”.

“The music is the script,...