ACCOR-dium leviosa! The Harry Potter theme, played by two virtuoso accordionists

9 October 2020, 12:49

Hedwig’s Theme, but it’s played by two accordion virtuosos…

The musical magic of John Williams’ main theme for Harry Potter has lent itself to countless new arrangements beyond the silver screen original – from a majestic saxophone quintet to a fugue played on the organ of London’s oldest surviving church.

There was even the time some genius moulded it into the style of a Rachmaninov Etude.

But what if Williams had written ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ for two virtuoso accordionists?

Read more: 5 magical cover versions of the Harry Potter theme >

ACCOR-dium leviosa! The Harry Potter theme, played by two virtuoso accordionists

This fantastic arrangement comes from Paweł Janas and Bartosz Kołsut, two exciting young accordionists who form a duo known as FACE2FACE, with Jakub Obuch on video and Jakub Krukowski on recording and mixing.

We spoke to Janas and Kołsut, who said it’s “thanks to John Williams that we are musicians today”.

“John Williams’ music accompanies us from childhood,” they said in an email. “Watching movies such as Jurassic Park, Star Wars or Harry Potter, we would be delighted with his fantastic music.”

Talking about their arrangement, they added: “The combination of two accordions gives enormous sound possibilities, thanks to which we were able to transfer the symphony orchestra to the only two instruments. In this arrangement we used the whole spectrum of possibilities of the accordion.”

Close your eyes, and you can just imagine this being played out in Hogwarts’ Great Hall, as Nearly Headless Nick floats past...