New Sounds Live: Silent Films / Live Music 2023
New Sounds Live at Brookfield Place
Jan. 25-27, 7:30PM
Winter Garden
230 Vesey Street | Map
FREE
No RSVP is required. Seating is first come, first served. Free popcorn while supplies last.
Jan. 25 Electric Appalachia, score by William Tyler and Mary Lattimore
Jan. 26 The Kid (1921), score by Yasmin Williams
Jan. 27 The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), score by David Cieri
The New Sounds Live Silent Films series returns to Brookfield Place with new scores to silent films, performed live, amidst the palm trees, under the glass atrium. On Jan. 25, guitarist William Tyler and harpist Mary Lattimore score a new silent film, Electric Appalachia; Jan. 26, lap-tapping guitarist Yasmin Williams scores Chaplin's The Kid; and Jan. 27, composer, musician, and educator David Cieri scores The Passion of Joan of Arc.
CURATORIAL STATEMENT BY JOHN SCHAEFER (Brookfield Place):
This year’s silent films include two of the all-time classics as well as a contemporary silent film created specifically with the live musicians in mind. The latter is “Electric Appalachia,” put together by Eric Dawson, the director at TAMIS – the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound. Using archival footage, he offers “a meditation on electricity and modernity in East Tennessee” – which sounds like a dull afternoon on PBS but turns out to be a surprisingly engaging, even poignant film. Guitarist William Tyler and the suddenly ubiquitous harpist Mary Lattimore add a moving, occasionally cosmic score. After that, the extraordinary guitarist Yasmin Williams (you’ll have to see her play to understand what makes her extraordinary) will give us the world premiere of a new score to the Charlie Chaplin classic “The Kid.” This wonderful film is both funny and deeply humane – and also stars a young Jackie Coogan in his first role. Finally, we have “The Passion Of Joan Of Arc,” which regularly tops the lists of the best silent films and which is considered one of the best films of any kind. Composer David Cieri has written music for many of Ken Burns’ documentaries, among others, and brings a sizable ensemble of instruments and vocalists to this grand finale of our 2023 series.
