Join us for a wonderful night of cinema and music, with internationally acclaimed Silent Film Pianist, Stephen Horne, resident pianist for the BFI and regular at Cannes Film Festival.
Prepare to be transported back to the era of Silent Film, when film soundtracks were orchestrated in front of spectators by live musicians.
The evening will showcase a collection of classic short films with live piano accompaniment.
The Playhouse, 1921.
Directed by Buster Keaton. Starring Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline
You’re Darn Tootin, 1928.
Directed by Edgar Kennedy. Starring Laurel & Hardy, George Rowe, Charlie Hall, Sam Lukin.
There it is, 1928.
Directed by Harold L. Muller. Starring Charley Bowers
Easy Street, 1917
Directed by Charles Chaplin. Starring Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin.
La Fee Carabosse (The Witch), 1906.
Directed by Georges Melies. Starring Georges Melies.
Stephen Horne, Silent films musician, house pianist at the BFI London talks about his career and coming performance in Canterbury to the Kent Creative Show.
In these clips he talks about some of the films he will be accompanying and also about meeting Yehudi Menuhin.
Stephen has long been considered one of the leading silent film accompanists. A house pianist at London’s BFI Southbank for thirty years, he has played at all the major UK venues and recorded music for many DVD releases of silent films. Although principally a pianist, he often incorporates other instruments into his performances, sometimes simultaneously.
He regularly performs internationally and in recent years his accompaniments have met with acclaim at film festivals in Pordenone, Bologna, San Francisco, Telluride, Paris, Cannes, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai, Istanbul, Berlin and Vienna.
SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL: “Stephen Horne displayed dazzling virtuosity in his accompaniment for a variety of films… creating orchestral effects with the piano soundboard and accompanying himself on flute and accordion!” Leonard Maltin (www.leonardmaltin.com).
SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL: “… the festival is anchored by exceptional musical accompaniment – a special bow to Stephen Horne, whose multi-instrumentalist talents were as inventive and tasteful as they were unerring in keeping pace with the material.” Michael T. O’Toole (Film International).
JENSEITS DER STRASSE (PERFORMANCE AT THE PORDENONE SILENT FILM FESTIVAL) : “… multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne used flute, accordion, percussion and a small strung instrument like a zither, as well as piano, to move this sophisticated and often cynical audience from laughter to tears in the space of a few bars.” Sam Edwards (stuff.co.nz/waikato-times).
Saturday 23rd September 2017 at 7:00pm
Gulbenkian, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NB
