A bespectacled 11-year-old boy from Surrey, England, will once again find himself on a train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when the 2001 film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” is shown this week in Baltimore and North Bethesda. This time, he'll be accompanied by 80 or so new friends — the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

A production of CineConcerts, a firm that specializes in putting live music together with films shown in high-definition on a large screen, this presentation of the first Harry Potter movie comes serendipitously just as Potterism is breaking out all over again.

First came the smash opening last week in London of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a two-part play by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. Next: The book version of the script will be officially released Sunday. This tale of a now-adult Potter forms the eighth installment in the enormously popular series begun in 1997 by Rowling.

The BSO's presentation of Harry Potter's inaugural cinematic appearance, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,” is more than just an occasion to enjoy a hit movie again, with all of its colorful adventures of Harry and his young pals honing their magic skills and fighting assorted evils. It's an opportunity to savor one of the most effective elements in that movie — the music of John Williams.

“John's music is responsible for us falling in love with J.K. Rowling's characters,” says CineConcerts President Justin Freer, who will conduct the performances. “He gives us this wonderful window into these children through his music.”

Orchestras often play excerpts from film scores by the prolific, multiple-award-winning Williams on pops programs, a sure box-office draw. In recent years, the attraction has been increased thanks to digital technology that makes it possible to remove the music from a print of the film, leaving only the dialogue. This allows an orchestra to perform the film score live, and gives an audience a richer sonic experience than a movie house can deliver.

“It's truly magical when you put the film and music together in concert,” says Freer, who will return to the BSO podium in December for “It's a Wonderful Life” and the score by Dimitri Tiomkin.

That's not the only movie-with-live-music combination on the BSO's calendar next season. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” will be shown next May, with principal pops conductor Jack Everly leading Williams' score. The holiday season will offer “The Nightmare Before Christmas” with Constantine Kitsopoulos conducting Danny Elfman's score.

And on back-to-back nights in December, BSO associate conductor Nicholas Hersh will handle the synchronization duties, leading the scores by Michael Giacchino for the 2009 “Star Trek” and 2013's “Star Trek Into Darkness.” The latter film was just presented by the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap.

Speaking of things Kirk- and Spock-related, “Star Trek Beyond,” the latest installment in the franchise, had its premiere this month not inside a movie theater, but at an open-air IMAX showing, as the San Diego Symphony Orchestra played Giacchino's score live. The event, part of ComicCon in San Diego, marked the first time a movie premiere boldly went in that direction.

Last week, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra launched “Titanic,” playing the late James Horner's score. The New York Philharmonic's popular annual series “The Art of the Score” returns in September with “West Side Story,” which the BSO offered a few years ago, and “Manhattan.” London's Royal Albert Hall presents a similar series.

Everywhere, it seems, the live soundtrack concept has taken hold.

“I think there are two primary reasons you're seeing an uptick in popularity and interest,” Freer says. “On the artistic/creative side, more people are realizing how much amazing, well-written film music there is. On the promotional or business side, these concerts are a great bridge between the classical world and the very popular-oriented world of patrons who are more attuned to Bruno Mars than Wagner.”

BSO spokeswoman Julia Kirchhausen picks up on that point.

“It's great music that can stand on its own,” she says. “And people who love the music from these movies want to hear it live. The music really is part of our lives. And who knows? We might even pick up a few people who have never been to an orchestra before.”

For the BSO's principal librarian, Michael Ferraguto, this week's encounter with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” is especially welcome.

“The book came out at the time I was in middle school, so it was a parallel timeline with Harry Potter,” says Ferraguto, 28. “For people of my generation, it was a very important book.”

Same for the movie version of that first book. “It was kind of seminal, in the same way ‘Star Wars' was for an earlier generation,” Ferraguto says. “And I think it's very well served by John Williams' orchestration, his instrument choices. Where ‘Star Wars' has the grand horn theme, the ‘Harry Potter' theme uses the celesta. It's more mysterious and elusive, a sound that could go to a dark place or a joyous place.”

None of the music is a cinch to perform.

“John Williams scores are technically demanding on an orchestra,” Ferraguto says. “In a recording studio, you can do little chunks at a time. It is a really tough feat to play it in concert.”

Tough to conduct, too.

“John is a master of pacing; he never gets it wrong,” Freer says. “The challenge is not just to keep the music in sync, but to maintain that sense of pacing and drama, to replicate it onstage.”

There's yet another hurdle for live soundtrack events. Orchestras often make their homes in concert halls designed to make acoustic music sound good, not amplified voices speaking dialogue.

“Acoustical challenges are plentiful, no matter what hall in the world,” Freer says. “However, there are ways around it. There are solutions. We have a really great sound team. And one of the things we do is use subtitles. This way, if the music gets too big, you can still get the dialogue.”

tim.smith@baltsun.com