Lawrence Loh is a “Star Wars” fan. He’s seen all the films. He knows “Star Wars” trivia. He and his family have visited “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” in Disney World, Orlando, Fla.

Loh travels to a venue not so far, far away as guest conductor of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (ASO) in “Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert,” 7:30 p.m. May 20, PPL Center, Allentown.

“I’m as big a fan as you can get for ‘Star Wars,’ literally, a fan boy. I know all the minutia,” says Loh, Music Director, Symphoria, Syracuse, N.Y., and West Virginia Symphony.

The Allentown concert features the first “Star Wars” film, released in 1977. The 75-member ASO will perform the John Williams’ score under a giant screen set up mid-ice (the floor is covered) in PPL Center, home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the American Hockey League professional team.

In accompanying a blockbuster movie, the ASO is part of a trend that symphony orchestras are in tune with.

“The Philadelphia Orchestra is beginning to do them. The New Jersey Symphony does a lot of them. And usually it’s a large orchestra. You need a big venue,” Allentown Symphony Orchestra Music Director Conductor Diane Wittry says.

“It’s very exciting for us to do something new and different like this,” says Wittry in a phone interview.

“We thought it would be a good way to reach out to a new demographic and let the Lehigh Valley know that the Allentown Symphony has something for everyone,” Wittry says.

“It started to become a thing and then it became really popular. There are a lot of films that have been made available for live orchestra and film,” says Loh in a phone interview.

“The first few that I did were ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Singing in the Rain.’

“I’ve done about 10 films and some of them multiple times. In the summer, particularly, I’ve come to do a lot of these.

“I’ve done a lot of John Williams. His music is one of the reasons that I love the sound of an orchestra. Maybe I can attribute my interest in being a conductor to how influential film soundtracks were for me in my life.

“This will be the second time I’ve conducted ‘New Hope.’ The flm was enormously popular. It won an Academy Award for original score for John Williams. It was the first ‘Star Wars’ film and it began a whole universe for so many people.”

This year, Loh conducts three orchestras accompanying movies, including the ASO. He conducted “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” with the Baltimore Symphony, May 12, 13, 14. He conducts “ET” with the Dallas Symphony in September.

“It’s a small percentage of what I do, but it takes a long time to prepare. I conduct maybe 45 weeks per year,” Loh says.

Loh is active as a guest conductor, including with the Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony and the National (Washington D.C.), Indianapolis, Knoxville, Florida, Dallas, Colorado, Charleston (S.C.), Detroit, Malaysia and Daejeon (South Korea) orchestras. In summer 2016, Loh made his debut at Tanglewood, conducting Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony with the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra.

Loh has done repeat performances with Chris Botti and Idina Menzel. He has assisted John Williams on multiple occasions and conducted numerous sold-out John Williams tribute concerts.

Loh concluded his 12-year tenure as Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Hazleton, Wilkes-Barre, in 2017. Loh’s decade-plus association with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra includes conducting the annual pops and other programs.

Loh received an Artist Diploma in Orchestral Conducting from Yale University, a Masters in Choral Conducting from Indiana University and a BA and Certificate of Management Studies from the University of Rochester.

His conducting of concerts synchronizing live orchestral music with film and has included “Star Wars Episodes. IV & V,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Jaws,” “Pixar in Concert,” “Disney in Concert” and “Casablanca.”

The Walt Disney Company, which purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas in 2012, controls the rights to the “Star Wars” films and franchise.

“There’s a list of approved conductors. To ensure success, they select from that list. And I’m on that list,” says Loh.

Orchestra musicians receive the score for the movie soundtrack in advance of the concert.

“They have the music. We have three rehearsals. We work through this enormously difficult music and are ready to play it in one take.”

There are two rehearsals the day before and one rehearsal the day of the PPL Center concert.

“It is a performance of the music. That’s what makes it special: People coming to hear this music performed live.

“The sound person mikes the orchestra and mixes it. If you are used to watching the movie, the music is going to be a bit more prominent [for the concert]. And there are subtitles for people who haven’t memorized the film.

“They remove all of the music and retain all of the sound effects and all of the dialogue. The orchestra plays all of the music live.

“To have an orchestra playing the music live is such a special experience. For ‘Star Wars’ fans, to see a performance of ‘Star Wars” feels a little like going to see the film for the first time in 1977. It’s a communal feeling, being in the same room with so many other ‘Star Wars’ fans, many in costume.

“There’s a whole group that goes around the state [Pennsylvania].

“Ordinary people like me, I would grab my robe and take my light saber.” The light saber is a weapon of the Jedi in “Star Wars.”

“Will you conduct with a light saber?” I ask Loh.

“I will not. I will wear a simple black suit. The orchestra won’t be distracting. Nobody in the orchestra will be dressing up because they have to concentrate so much on the playing. Maybe there will be ‘Star Wars’ cuff links or Princess Leia hair buns.

“I have to conduct the music the same way that John Williams did on the original.

“I have in front of me a screen. The film is on that screen. There are actually punches and streamers. In the early days, they actually punched holes in the film. The streamer is a white bar, or green or yellow or red. As soon as it hits the right side, there’s a flash so i know it’s coming.

“They modified the film for me so that I can see where the orchestra needs to line up. I additionally have a click in my ear. One ear bud. The orchestra doesn’t have that click. They just watch me.

“I use all of these tools, the punch hole, the streamer, the click in my ear, the sheet music.

“I’m basically conducting and I have all of these things that are helping me guide the performance. It’s a lot different from conducting a Beethoven symphony where you have a lot of freedom.

“The film plays at a very fixed rate. And we have to be exactly with it. It’s a challenge, but I love it. It’s really gratifying.”

A reviewer, David Williams, of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, wrote about Loh conducting the West Virginia Symphony performance of John Williams’ music for Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park”:

“The orchestra’s new conductor, Lawrence Loh, navigated the score with ease, keeping the orchestra in seemingly perfect coordination with the action on the screen. The screen itself was large and the projection was startlingly vivid. It even had English subtitles which helped in following the dialogue, since the goal was to keep the orchestra in prominence (This doesn’t happen in the theatrical version of movies. The underscore gets cut back so no dialogue is covered up.).”

Loh’s family, including his wife and sons, are “Star Wars” fans. They’ve been watching “The Mandalorian,” now in Season 2, on Disney+.

Loh expects to greet “Star Wars” fans after the PPL Center concert.

“People go anywhere as a group with their ‘Star Wars’ regalia.”

Loh recalls a close encounter of the “Star Wars” kind:

“This person looked like one of The Mandalorian and pulled a thing from his chest and gave it to me. It was like a pad, a piece of metal.”

Loh, born in southern California of Korean parentage, was raised in Carlisle, Cumberland County.

Loh and his family visited Disney World in 2020, just before the coronavirus (COVID-19) shutdown. “I got to see everything that they have going on there. It’s like A going-to-the-Mother Ship feeling.

“My whole family is into ‘Star Wars.’ My son made a light saber [at Savi’s Workshop at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studio at Disney World].

“We’ve been into ‘Star Wars’ my kids’ entire lives. When we went to Disney we were all excited to go because we wanted to see all the new attractions.”

Loh, 52, and his wife, Jennifer, have a daughter, Hilary, 16, and son, Charlie, 18, a freshman at Brown University, majoring in chemistry.

“Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert,” to have been presented two years ago at PPL Center, Allentown, was postponed because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown. Tickets for the originally-scheduled concert will be honored.

Wttry said that rescheduling the concert was a challenge.

“The first thing was scheduling the PPL Center, and where we were with the pandemic, and Lawrence’s schedule, and then we basically just rehired the orchestra,” says Wittry.

“I’m actually going to go by the rehearsals and see how it all works and to make sure we don’t have any problems.

“Because the brass parts are very tough, we usually hire an extra brass player. It calls for six horns, French horns. It’s the John Williams Sound.’

The “John Williams Sound” will also be heard in “The Music Of John Williams,” 7:30 p.m. May 8, 2023, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown, as part of the ASO 2022-’23 Pops Series. Tickets are on sale for the 2022-’23 ASO season.

Upcoming are three milestone anniversary seasons: the 25th anniversary, Schadt Competition, 2022-’23; 125th anniversary, Miller Symphony Hall, 2024-’25, and 75th anniversary, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, 2025-’26.

“That’s kind of our focus, how to celebrate those anniversaries,” says Wittry.

Tickets: PPL Center box office; 701 Hamilton St., Allentown; www.pplcenter.com; 610-224-4625

Allentown Symphony Orchestra 2022-23 season: https://www.millersymphonyhall.org/ 610-432-6715