Event information:
January 14, 15 & 16 at 7pm
World Financial Center's Winter Garden (Battery Park City on the Hudson River)
Admission is free
Information available at (212) 945-0505 or at the WFC's
Winter Garden website
Rare silent films by Alfred Hitchcock, George Méliès, Bill Morrison and Keïsuke Sasaki featuring new live scores will screen for three winter evenings starting Wednesday, January 14, at 7:00pm free in the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street. The old silent films with new music have been curated and will be hosted by WNYC's John Schaefer as part of his New Sounds Live series.
This year's screenings include a set of films with original live scores provided by The Bill Frisell Trio on two nights, January 14 and 15, at 7:00pm: Bill Morrison's The Mesmerist (2003, 1926), the U.S. premiere of Keïsuke Sasaki's Bombshell Bride (1935) and two George Méliès shorts, A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Eclipse (1907).
Alfred Hitchcock's first suspense thriller, The Lodger (1926), will screen on January 16, at 7:00pm to the New York premiere of British composer Joby Talbot's score performed by the nationally acclaimed, Milwaukee-based newmusic group, Present Music. Joby Talbot will perform the keyboards along with Present Music for this concert marking Present Music's full-length concert debut in New York.
These
performances by The Bill Frisell Trio, featuring Kenny Wollesen on drums and
Tony Scher on bass, will also mark the opening of the 2004 New York Guitar Festival,
running at venues around New York City through February 3.
"A free silent film with hot, contemporary, live music is great reason to
come in from the cold," said Debra Simon, Executive Director of the World Financial
Center Arts & Events Program. For three nights at 7:00pm the Winter Garden will
be transformed into a grand silent movie house, complete with popcorn for sale!
Wednesday & Thursday, January 14 & 15, at 7:00pm
The Mesmerist, Bombshell Bride and George Méliès
Shorts with new music by Bill Frisell
About
the films:
The Mesmerist (2003) is being paired with a Bill Frisell composition
to create a world premiere performance. This extraordinary film, reedited by
director Bill Morrison from a deteriorated nitrate print of James Young's The
Bells (1926), features Lionel Barrymore. In a dream, Barrymore is exposed as a
murderer by the Mesmerist played by Boris Karloff. We then follow him into the
psychedelic distortion of the fortuneteller's tent, where he experiences his
absolution as a hallucinatory vision of yet another reality. The film ends back in the reality of the dreamer.
Bombshell
Bride is a 1935 comedy by Keïsuke Sasaki never before screened in the
United States. This Japanese silent film recounts the struggle of two men, one
rich and one poor, for the lovely maiden's affection. It will be presented with
an original score by Bill Frisell.
George Méliès Shorts will have two Bill Frisell premiere scores
commissioned by the New York Guitar Festival. These shorts include two of George
Méliès's best known films: A Trip to the Moon (1902) and
The Eclipse (1907).
About
the music:
The Bill Frisell Trio: Original scores written and performed by The Bill Frisell
Trio with Kenny Wollesen on drums and Tony Scherr on bass. One of the most sought
after guitarists in contemporary music, Bill Frisell mixes rock and country
with jazz and blues to produce an entirely unique and brilliant sound. Musician
magazine described his style as "modern in the best sense of the word, straddling
the electronic ambiance and distortion of contemporary rock and the nuances
of touch and harmonic sophistication usually associated with jazz."
Friday, January 16, at 7:00pm
Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger with premiere score by Joby Talbot
Present
Music, the nationally acclaimed, Milwaukee based new music ensemble founded
by Kevin Stalheim, performs its first full length New York City concert: the
New York premiere of a film score by Joby Talbot, from the British artrock band
The Divine Comedy, for Alfred Hitchcock's first suspense thriller, The Lodger
(1926), where an unknown killer preys upon London's blondes.
Known to audiences as the "Master of Suspense," Alfred Hitchcock inspired a generation of filmmakers and revolutionized the thriller genre, making him a legend around the world. The Lodger is set in a London enveloped in fog and fear as an unknown killer preys upon blondes. It was Alfred Hitchcock's first big critical and boxoffice success, bringing his name before the public as one of Britain's most promising young directors. The film clearly foreshadows Hitchcock classics to come and also displays the early stages of his wellknown techniques. The film also introduces the first personal onscreen appearances by the director himself. It marks the origin of what would become one of cinema's most famous personal trademarks.
Joby Talbot was born in 1971 in Wimbledon, composer Joby Talbot initially studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. In 1995, Talbot studied with Louis Andriessen at Dartington and since then his music has been performed by the Britten Sinfonia, the Brunel Ensemble, the London Contemporary Percussion Trio, Crouch End Festival Chorus and the BBC Philharmonic. Joby is now part of the new generation of composers that has vast experience in a wide variety of musical styles. He has recently completed scores for a new BBC comedy Wild West, and the 2003 Comic Relief animated feature, Robbie the Reindeer and the Legend of the Lost Tribe. In 1999, Talbot was commissioned by the British Film Institute to write a new score to Alfred Hitchcock's silent movie, The Lodger which has been performed live to film in Edinburgh, London, France and Germany. This performance will mark its New York premiere.
Links & Resources:
More about Bill Frisell
More about Joby Talbot
More about Present Music
More about New York Guitar Festival
More about New Sounds Live