Global 50th Anniversary Celebration of JAWS Continues at QPAC This November

Brisbane has joined the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of JAWS, the original summer movie blockbuster from 1975, with JAWS in Concert - an unforgettable film-with-live-orchestra experience at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) on Saturday 22 November 2025. 

This live experience of JAWS will be projected onto the big screen while the Academy Award-winning score by composer John Williams is performed live on stage by The Metropolitan Orchestra Brisbane conducted by Sarah-Grace Williams. 

After sold-out performances around the world, including New York, London and Sydney, Brisbane audiences now have the chance to experience this incredible movie in its best light, with the full force of a 65-piece orchestra performing the entire score in sync with one of the greatest motion pictures of all time. 

Directed by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg in the film that launched his career, JAWS set the standard for edge-of-your-seat suspense, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon, and forever changing the movie industry. John Williams' score, which went on to win an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Grammy, perfectly captures the sheer terror of the unknown. 

Relive the thrilling suspense when the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark. Together the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again. 

This year sees a series of 50th anniversary celebrations, including new documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story now streaming in Australia on Disney+; Jaws: The Exhibition, the biggest presentation ever held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles; and Jaws 50, the new 4K HD film reissue for home release and also screening in theatres internationally for a limited time from 28 August. 

QPAC Chief Executive Rachel Healy said she was looking forward to experiencing John Williams' masterpiece come to life in the acoustically impressive Concert Hall. 

“It's very hard to think of another composer with a career spanning seven decades, let alone one whose work is so universally known. And how ironic it is that, for all his soaring romantic tunes, expert orchestrations, thorough knowledge of jazz and avantgarde techniques, John Williams' most powerful earworm consists of just two ominous double bass notes,” she said.   
 
“Hearing the score to JAWS live makes you appreciate how much more there is to it: it's a thrilling and evocative piece of orchestral writing full of knowing references to Debussy and Stravinsky. But there's also genius in those two notes of terror whose holiday appearance in your mind's ear can have you scurrying for dry land.  

“QPAC is delighted to present TMO's 50th anniversary performance of Williams' first Oscar-winning original soundtrack. Hopefully you'll have forgotten it all by the time summer comes around and the beach beckons.”