Please Note: This program has a rescheduled date (originally March 29, 2020).
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Since the beginning of the talkies, film directors have turned to classical music for their soundtracks. Whether it’s Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Mascagni, Puccini, or Bach, opuses of almost every famous composer have added emotional depth to hundreds of films.
With fascinating clips, witty commentary, and piano demonstrations, concert pianist and movie fanatic Rachel Franklin delves into the magic of some of the greatest film music ever composed (even when it was unintentional).
British-born Franklin is a popular speaker and performer in the mid-Atlantic region who has appeared on more than two dozen broadcasts about music for NPR’s “Performance Today.”
SESSION TOPIC
Classical Crossovers
Shostakovich, Bernstein, Copland, Corigliano, Gershwin, Walton, and Prokofiev—each a 20th-century giant of the concert hall—all composed superb movie music. Writing for film was very attractive to many concert composers: They saw film as an important medium, and their experiments in crafting new composing techniques for the screen influenced later soundtrack superstars such as John Williams.
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Other Connections
View a video clip featuring Rachel Franklin as she talks about classical music in film.