Peter Dinklage to present Music of the Movies

The actor Peter Dinklage, a native of the Somerset Hills, will present a concert entitled Music of the Movies at the Ridge High School Performing Arts Center (268 South Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge) at 5 PM on Sunday, March 13. Tickets ($35-$75) are available at MusicSH.org/concerts.

The concert is part of the annual series presented by Music in the Somerset Hills, and will feature the 65-strong Somerset Hills Community Chorus, conducted by Stephen Sands. All the music will be derived from movie soundtracks, much of it well known (Star Wars, Frozen, West Side Story, the James Bond theme), some of it not so well known and often surprising (“Seize the Day” from Newsies, “Joyful, joyful” from Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit).

Peter Dinklage was brought up in Mendham Township and educated at Delbarton School and Bennington College, where he took a degree in drama. He is probably best known as Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones, for which he has won two Emmy Awards (2011 and 2015) and a Golden Globe Award (2012). Amongst his many film credits are Elf (2003), The Station Agent (2003), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) and Death at a Funeral (2007). He is also the voice of Ghost in the video game Destiny. On the stage, he has played the title role in Shakespeare’s Richard III at New York’s Public Theatre (2004). Mr. Dinklage is married to the theater director Erica Schmidt, and they have a four-year-old daughter.

The Dinklage family is well represented in this concert. Peter’s mother, Diane, sings in the Community Chorus; his brother Jonathan is first violinist and concertmaster of the orchestra (roles he has recently been fulfilling in the Broadway hit musical Hamilton); and Jonathan’s wife, the actress Ta’Rea Campbell (Sister Act), is a featured soloist.

Music in the Somerset Hills, founded by Stephen Sands in 2010, is now an established presence in the cultural life of the area. After Music of the Movies, its next concert will be entitled The Gilded Age and will feature the distinguished pianist Rosanne Vita Nahas. It will take place at 5 PM on April 10 at one of the Somerset Hills’ finest examples of Gilded Age architecture on the Bernardsville mountain.