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Binghamton Philharmonic Pops Presents
Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush
Theater Organist Dennis
James Returns To The Pops For Comedy Classic
On Saturday, May 17, 2008, at
8:00 p.m. in the Forum
Theatre in Binghamton, the
Binghamton Philharmonic, José-Luis Novo
music director and conductor, continues its
2007-2008 Pops Series with Charlie
Chaplin's The Gold Rush. Renowned
theater organist and silent film specialist
Dennis James joins the Philharmonic Pops to
perform the score to this comedy classic live while
the film is being shown. Tickets range from $29-$40
for adults, $26-$37 for seniors (over 60) and $10
for students and children. Call 607-723-3931
for tickets and information. Tickets may be
purchased online at
www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org.
The Binghamton Philharmonic has recently improved
its website so patrons can now choose their seats
online.
This concert is sponsored by Levene
Gouldin & Thompson. The Binghamton
Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Pops Series is sponsored by
NBT Bank.
This performance is made possible with public funds from the New
York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. General
Operating Support is provided to the Binghamton Philharmonic by a grant from
the United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome
County Arts Council. The Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008
Season is also made possible by a grant from The New York State
Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at
Rockefeller Philanthropy
Dennis
James
For forty years Dennis James has played a pivotal
role in the international revival of silent films
with live music. He began professional film
accompaniment study and performances at Indiana
University while he was a music student in the late
1960's. James now tours worldwide under the auspices
of his Silent Film Concerts production company
professionally performing to silent films with solo
organ, piano, and chamber ensemble accompaniments
plus frequent presentations with major symphony
orchestras. Many of his recent orchestra & organ
silent film presentations, including those with the
Chicago and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, were
complete sellouts and he performs his solo silent
film presentations on tour throughout Australia, New
Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands,
Italy, and England.
A featured solo performer on the international
film festival circuit, James appears regularly at
the annual Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington
D.C. and Philadelphia events as well as the
Pordenone and Rome (Italy) Festivals Cinema Muto. He
may be seen frequently at the National Gallery of
Art, the Walker Film Center in Minneapolis, the
Cleveland Cinematheque and for the Chicago Art
Institute, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the
Palazzo Delle Espisozioni in Rome. James has
performed programs under the auspices of the
American Film Institute, National Film Registry,
Museum of Modern Art (New York), Library of
Congress, Pacific Film Archive, George Eastman
House, American Federation of the Arts, UCLA. Film
and Television Archive and the British Film
Institute.
Beginning in 1987 James has served as the U.S.
tour organist for the Munich Filmmuseum of
performing his musical scores to such restored
German epic silent film classics as the 4 1/2-hour
Fritz Lang DIE NIBELUNGEN, the 5-hour DR. MABUSE
saga plus the F. W. Murnau silents FAUST and
NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF TERROR. He was commissioned
to prepare and perform the music scores for US tour
debuts of the recently restored silent films:
METROPOLIS, ROMOLA, THE BRIGHT SHAWL, THE LAST
LAUGH, THE WOMAN MEN YEARN FOR, ASPHALT, BEYOND THE
ROCKS, SOUL FIRE, THE GREEN GODDESS, THAT'S MY
DADDY, THAT CERTAIN THING, SKINNER'S DRESS SUIT, THE
FALL OF JERUSALEM, and NATHAN THE WISE among many
others. He often performs his own solo organ
scores to the Museum of Modern Art reconstructions
of the D. W. Griffith films WAY DOWN EAST and
INTOLERANCE and his widely acclaimed performances to
rarely screened Soviet silent film features
(including AELITA QUEEN OF MARS, BED AND SOFA, THE
HOUSE ON TRUBNAYA SQUARE, POTEMKIN and THE MAN WITH
A MOVIE CAMERA) with his FILMHARMONIA instrumental
ensembles have been presented throughout the United
States plus in Paris, Rome, London and Singapore.
Filmharmonia's AELITA, QUEEN OF MARS was recorded by
the British Film Institute for video distribution on
the Criterion label, and Turner Classic Movies
recorded James' THE MERRY WIDOW score commissioned
for their cable broadcast edition of the MGM classic
silent film.
Critic Scott Cantrell says, "James has to be
heard to be believed. His way with the instrument is
virtually magical. He transforms it into an
orchestra, a brass band, a dazzling array of movie
sound effects. Without so much as a note of music in
front of him he can whip out a big orchestral
movement and make you think you're listening to the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Next thing you know
you're back on the beach, with the tide rolling in
and love songs wafting down from on high."
Following an extensive nationwide search, James
was selected to debut the El Capitan Theatre's
Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ. As the theatre's
premier House Organist, James has appeared before
tens of thousands enthusiastic patrons at the
Hollywood landmark. Together with his solo organ
silent film performances at other restored theatres
throughout the city James carved a permanent niche
in Hollywood's entertainment history and has been
named Hollywood's "International Ambassador of the
Silent Film." He brings silent film programming
around the world, with sellout appearances at the
Sydney Opera House in Australia, a film program to
debut of the new pipe organ Esplanade Concert Hall
in Singapore, and several return performances at
Vienna's Konzerthaus.
Dennis James also serves a number of concurrent
professional appointments, including: House Organist
for the beautifully restored Paramount Theatre in
Seattle and Everett Theatre in Everett, Washington
plus Theatre Organist for the San Diego Symphony,
and Silent Film Organist for the Stanford Theatre
(Palo Alto) and Cantos Foundation's silents series
at the Uptown Theatre (Calgary). In accepting these
positions James has demonstrated his dedication to
the continuation of the professional public organ
performance together with his specialty in
traditional silent film accompaniment. James also
regularly performs at other theatres throughout the
West Coast including the State Theatre (Monterey),
Arlington Theatre (Santa Barbara), Castro Theatre
(San Francisco), Paramount Theatre (Oakland), and
the Berkeley Community Theatre in addition to his
ongoing worldwide tours.
Dennis James began his theatre organ career as
house organist for the Lansdowne and Brookline
Theatres in Pennsylvania and then for the Paramount
and Rivoli Theatres in Indiana. From 1975 to 1990
James was the final employed Resident Organist for
the Ohio Theatre in Columbus. In a career filled
with diverse activities he has appeared together
with film personalities Vincent Price, Ray Bolger,
Jimmy Durante, Bob Hope, David Niven, Red Skelton,
Myrna Loy, Olivia DeHavilland, Ethel Smith, Ginger
Rogers, and Fay Wray. He toured nationally
throughout the 1980s with silent film stars Lillian
Gish and Charles 'Buddy' Rogers providing musical
accompaniment on national tour revivals of their
motion pictures.
Lillian Gish announced, "Dennis James'
playing brought tears to my eyes . . . his score was
just what we intended it to be when we made the
film" at James' debut accompaniment to her MGM
silent classic LA BOHEME at the Chicago Civic Opera.
James, who has many record album, cassette and
compact disc releases to his credit, has been the
subject of or participated in many national
broadcasts over NBC, ABC, CBS television plus NPR
and APR radio. He has been presented in a feature
television documentary for the Australian Broadcast
Commission, a full length solo program for national
Austrian television and on numerous broadcasts for
the BBC in England, the CBC in Canada and for French
and Belgian national television. James may be heard
on the recent feature Hollywood film scores THE
FACULTY and MINUS MAN, both by composer Marco
Beltrami