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Posted: |
May 10, 2015 - 1:16 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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This combines two of my all time favorite things. A Film Music concert with a classic genre film in a beautiful picture palace located on an enchanting island that is only an hour away from the Los Angeles mainland:
If you were present for this year’s Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit, you witnessed history in the making. For the first time in the history of the museum’s benefit, and the Avalon Casino Theatre, a live symphony orchestra provided the musical accompaniment for the feature film.
The 28th Annual Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit will feature The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney, in the Avalon Casino Theatre on May 16, 2015. The benefit will again feature a symphony orchestra comprised of the most talented musicians in Southern California, led by Grammy Award-winning conductor Richard Kaufman. A soprano vocalist has also been added to enhance the performance of the film’s renowned score.
"I can`t remember when I`ve had such an exciting time conducting a show!” said Kaufman, following this year’s benefit. “Having the opportunity to perform in such a historic and acoustically amazing theater, along with the incredibly enthusiastic response from the audience, made the whole experience, in a word, thrilling!”
As one of today’s leading conductors of symphonic film music, Kaufman is the Principal Pops Conductor of Orange County’s Pacific Symphony, Pops Conductor Laureate of the Dallas Symphony and conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concert series “CSO at the Movies.” He regularly appears as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras throughout the United States and around the world, including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Later this year he will return to Perth, Australia to conduct the West Australia Symphony Orchestra.
Every performance reveals Kaufman’s immense talent and passion for film music. As a violinist, he performed on numerous film and television scores including Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Saturday Night Fever. As the music coordinator for MGM Studios, he supervised music for all television and animation projects. Receiving two Emmy Award nominations for the animated series The Pink Panther in the category of Outstanding Music Direction and Composition, and another for Outstanding Original Song, which Kaufman co-authored for the series All Dogs Go to Heaven. In 1993 he won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for a recording he conducted with the Nuremberg Symphony.
 
The silent film classic Phantom of the Opera will be featured at the Catalina Island Museum’s 2015 Silent Film Benefit. Grammy-award winning conductor Richard Kaufman will return to the Avalon Theater and conduct a symphony orchestra in a performance of the film’s renowned score.
“I can`t wait until next May 16th when we will present the legendary 1925 Lon Chaney classic The Phantom of the Opera,” Kaufman recently stated. “Once again, we`ll bring some of L.A. and Orange County`s finest studio and symphonic musicians to the island, which will make for another unique and once-in-a-lifetime experience for the audience, as well as the music makers!"
Phantom of the Opera is often touted as one of the greatest horror films of the silent screen. Though many versions have graced the stage and film screen, the original 1925 film starring Lon Chaney remains one of the most popular.
Based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel of the same name, Chaney stars as the deformed Phantom, who haunts the Paris Opera House. Murder fills the opera with terror, as the Phantom seeks revenge and attempts to make the woman he loves a star.
Ranked #52 on Bravo’s list of the “100 Scariest Movie Moments,” The Phantom of the Opera was also deemed “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
According to the late film critic, Roger Ebert: “It has two elements of genius: It creates beneath the opera one of the most grotesque places in the cinema, and Chaney’s performance transforms an absurd character into a haunting one.”
Lon Chaney was one of silent film’s biggest stars, and was known for the realism of his transformations into the often grotesque and horrible creatures he played on screen. The role of the disfigured Phantom was custom-made for “the man of a thousand faces,” and Chaney was given complete freedom in creating the character. He used wire hooks, bobby pins, grease paint, and tape to create one of the most memorable characterizations the silent screen had ever seen. Early reviews of the film report that Chaney’s Phantom was so convincing that many moviegoers screamed and others fainted during the film’s famous climax: when the Phantom unmasks himself.
Tickets for The Phantom of the Opera are already selling fast! This event will sell out. Tickets are $15 for members of the museum and $18 for general admission. Purchasing tickets is easy. Please call 310-510-2414, visit the museum in person, or go to the Silent Film event page at www.CatalinaMuseum.org.
The Catalina Island Museum is Avalon’s sole institution devoted to art, culture and history. The museum, its digital theater and store are located on the ground floor of Avalon’s historic Casino and are open 7 days a week, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information, the museum may be reached by phone at 310-510-2414 or at its website: CatalinaMuseum.org.
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Posted: |
May 19, 2015 - 1:06 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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Very impressive! May I say that after years of going to silent film performances I am usually knocked out by the performances and production values from the very best of them. They make many a current CGI movie look piddling. But to be honest THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is probably a movie that makes people hate silent films. The acting is all grand big gestures with nary an honest performance in the piece, except one. So how can this be so impressive? First it helps it takes place in the opera world, if you saw the Andrew Lloyd Webber movie you saw some of the same self absorbed characters using some of the same gestures. But Lon Chaney is something else again. His make-up may no longer require nurses to be stationed in the aisles but you see how the man became so seminal in the history of filmmaking. And his demented Erik, a man of opera who was tortured on Devil's island, is the only one justified in his over-the-top shenanigans. Indeed his maniacal shrieking in his final ride has a fierce power. Chaney, who has to be the first major star known for being a chameleon, did his own make-up and changed that art forever. He knew film required a more realistic approach and he literally tortured himself creating some of his most memorable characters and without a doubt influencing Jack Pierce (FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN) but, unknown to them, every make-up nerd at every convention in the world.
But this is the film music section which brings me to the other hero of the night - Richard Kaufman, who each time I see him I learn more about and gain more admiration for. He didn't just play violin on JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and countless other scores. Nor just head music at MGM for many years. Nor just create a film music movement in Dallas, Chicago and, frankly, much of the rest of the world. Well let him explain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6d_0pGEGwo
Here in Catalina he brought in Dennis James, another seminal film music person
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_James_(musician)
who was responsible for restoring this, the original score of PHANTOM from the 1925 New York premiere. The score by Gustav Hinrichs (an opera man whose only score this was), Charles Gounad's FAUST (THE opera of PHANTOM) and cues compiled by Max Winkler (THE cue sheet compiler for the time) was cobbled together over many years of research and discoveries. The orchestra was expanded from last year's 20 something (top of thread picture) to this year's 30 something filling the pit:
The result was a rousing night that made the movie pop out of it's melodramatic context to explode into a sort of theatrical spectacle. The close to 1200 seat capacity was overfilled with people in the aisles and along the back. Which really knocked me out when I found this has been the first time since the very early days of the theater this has happened! They are in talks for next year already.
Thanks Richard for everything (including auto graphing my CDs)! (at left below)
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Posted: |
May 24, 2015 - 12:19 AM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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Sell-Out Crowd Attends Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit
THE CATALINA ISLANDER
Added Wednesday 20 May 2015 at 10.49 pm
“Intoxicating!” “Incredible!” “Amazing!” “Wonderful!” Those words were uttered again and again as the sell-out crowd exited the Avalon Casino Theatre this past Saturday following the Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit featuring The Phantom of the Opera accompanied by a 30-piece symphony orchestra, a soprano vocalist and an acclaimed organist, led by Grammy Award-winning conductor Richard Kaufman. Island residents in attendance were astounded. Many stated they had “never seen the theatre so full!”
A couple that traveled from San Francisco and attended in 1920s attire commented, “Of epic presentations, this took the cake! We are going to rave about this event to everyone we know. See you next year!”
The museum’s benefit has experienced unprecedented growth over the past three years. More than 80% of the over 1,100 people who bought tickets traveled from the mainland, specifically for this event. The majority of the ticket buyers were from California, but others traveled from as far away as Alaska, Connecticut, Virginia and Texas. Many were introduced to the Catalina Island Museum through past events such as last year’s Silent Film Benefit screening of City Lights and the very popular 50th anniversary screening of A Hard Day’s Night last summer.
“From their enthusiastic response,” remarked Kaufman. “It was clear that the audience had a great time experiencing the 1925 silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera, as did the members of the orchestra who loved being on the island for such a special event. Our organ soloist, Dennis James, brought his dramatic artistry to the performance and its clear why he is the pre-eminent organ accompanist for silent films in the world.”
“Having Lisa Vroman as our soprano soloist was truly remarkable since she has played the role of Christine in over 2,000 performances of the musical version of Phantom,” Kaufman commented further. “And I can’t say enough about Michael De Marsche, Devin Thompson, and the entire staff of the Catalina Island Museum. Their passion, skill, and tremendous dedication to what they do is absolutely amazing. For me, both personally and professionally, it was once again an exciting and memorable time on Catalina Island. I can’t wait to come back!!”
“Thank you for an exciting and fun day,” said Mike Gibson, resident of Huntington Beach and Avalon High School class of 1958. “I have seen many shows in the Casino but this was – without a doubt – the best! We are still telling all of our friends about it!”
“This was my first trip to Catalina, and it was beautiful indeed!” said soprano Lisa Vroman who performed Christine, the Phantom’s love interest in the film. “This is a unique event, and something essentially meant to be experienced live. The audience reaction is a testament to that!”
“I’d heard a lot about the wonderful Catalina Island music and film audiences over these last forty-some years from friends and colleagues, such as Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers (who used to conduct his orchestra in the Casino Ballroom in the early 1930s) and Gaylord Carter (the original organist for the museum’s benefit),” said organist Dennis James. “I was ever so pleased to find my experience just the same as theirs! I hope to bring period-respectful authentic silent film, plus genuine historical music scorings again to Catalina Island in the years to come.”
“Avalon is still buzzing about the Silent Film Benefit and we could not be more proud,” said Michael De Marsche, the Catalina Island Museum’s Executive Director. “The amount of people that traveled to the island for our event is staggering. It certainly demonstrates the museum’s importance in this community. Tickets are already selling for next year’s event, which is quite gratifying.”
Supporters of the Catalina Island Museum are now looking forward to the grand opening of the museum’s new home: the Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building, which will open later this year. According to De Marsche, numerous special events and exhibitions are being planned.
http://www.catalinamuseum.org/blog_view.asp?nBlog_ID={41BA32B0-A632-441C-9055-4DC2CD576E80}
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