Charlie Chaplin classic films to be screened with live orchestra

Date Published: {J}

Two of Charlie Chaplin’s newly restored Mutual films – made during Chaplin’s 12-month period with the Mutual Film Corporation in1916-17– have been set to music by BAFTA award-winning composer Carl Davis.

The Adventurer and The Immigrant, each 25 minutes long, will be screened in Galway on August 6 and 7 when Davis’s music will be performed live by Paul Ezergailis and the Summer Music for Galway Film Orchestra.

Charlie Chaplin became the highest paid entertainer in the world in 1916 when he signed a contract with Mutual for a salary of $670,000. Mutual built him his own studio and allowed him total creative freedom. Chaplin subsequently recognised this period as the most inventive and liberating of his film career.

“Originally there would have been orchestras accompanying the films – they were never actually silent – but the scores were not written down,”explains composer Carl Davies. “I’ve been involved with the restoration of Chaplin’s own scores for his feature films so I knew what style he would have used. He was constantly in touch with musicians and the world of variety, so his music was a mixture of music hall and quotes from the classics. My scores reflect that, and I also use leitmotifs for recurring characters to unify the stories.”

Paul Ezergailis, with 15 years experience performing all the Chaplin feature films with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, will be conducting his SMG Film orchestra, comprised of 16 internationally renowned musicians, who are participating at this year’s Summer Music in Galway International Festival. That takes place from Monday next, July 25 until August 14.

“Synchronising the music with the screen in live performance is a tightrope walk, anything and everything can go wrong, which can obviously add to the comedy of the evening!” he says. “There’s a delightful intimacy of the smaller orchestra used in Davis’s film score for these ‘short stories’.

“I am really looking forward to conducting these concerts for the first time here in Galway and introducing this new dimension to the cinema experience,” adds Paul.

The first show will be on Saturday, August 6 at 7.30pm in Seapoint Ballroom in Salthill, with an introduction by Ollie Turner of Galway Bay FM. The Forge in Moycullen will be the venue on Sunday, August 7 at 7.30pm.

Tickets are €20 €15. For Seapoint Leisure Centre, Salthill, phone 091 521716 or online at www.seapointleisure.ie For the Forge, ring 091 868 944 or log onto www.theforgepubmoycullen.com