Sound and Silents – Birds Eye View – 27th, 28th and 29th May 2010
Sound & Silents is a strand of innovative cross-arts performances that unite female creative excellence in music and film.
For the past three years Sound & Silents has presented a number of classic silent films starring iconic actresses. Each year the film programme has been united under a special theme; the 2008 strand focussed on women in comedy with Clowning Glories, the 2009 series looked at the impact of the vamp character in Screen Seductresses: Vamps, Vixens and Femmes Fatales and for 2010 we celebrate iconic blondes in early cinema with Blonde Crazy.
Sound & Silents has become one of the festival’s most popular strands and a selection of these collaborations have toured to other venues or festivals across the UK including The Big Chill and Latitude.
BEV have been invited to curate a season of these collaborations at London’s new creative hub and major arts venue – Kings Place – next May 2010. The programme will showcase 4 silent films featuring icons such as Greta Garbo, Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson accompanied by innovative performances from the following female talent; The Elysian Quartet, Juice, Mercury Award nominated Zoe Rahman and classical cellist Natalie Clein.
The Temptress accompanied by Natalie Clein
27th May 2010, Kings Place
Greta Garbo stars as a melancholy vamp in an emotional rollercoaster with live musical accompaniment from Classical Brit Award Winning cellist Natalie Clein.
Birds Eye View brings a fantastic programme of world-class musicians and classic silent films to major arts venue and creative hub Kings Place.
The Temptress Narcissistic Elena (Garbo) drives every man she meets to despair. One of her victims, Manuel Robledo tries to escape, but this time Elena is in love and she follows him from Paris to his native Argentina.
Natalie Clein’s exceptional musicality has earned her a number of prestigious prizes including the Classical Brit Award for Young British Performer of 2005, the Ingrid zu Solms Cultur Preis at the 2003 Kronberg Academie, and the BBC Young Musician of the Year aged just 16.
My Best Girl accompanied by The Elysian Quartet
28th May 2010, Kings Place
A delightful romantic comedy starring Mary Pickford with music from the only British string quartet of its generation dedicated exclusively to contemporary and experimental music.
Birds Eye View brings a fantastic programme of world-class musicians and classic silent films to major arts venue and creative hub Kings Place.
My Best Girl, directed by Sam Taylor and starring Mary Pickford is the tale of Maggie. Maggie falls in love with Joe, her new colleague in the stock room, unaware that he is the son of the department store owner working undercover to prove his business skills.
The Elysian Quartet is one of the UK’s most innovative young ensembles. They have worked with artists as diverse as virtuoso beat-boxer Killa Kela, jazz pianist Keith Tippett, and experimental electronic composer Simon Fisher-Turner
I Don’t Want to be a Man! accompanied by Zoe Rahman
+ The Danger Girl accompanied by Juice
29th May 2010, Kings Place
A fantastic double bill of silent comedy featuring Ossi Oswalda and Gloria Swanson with music from acclaimed jazz pianist Zoe Rahman and experimental vocal trio Juice.
Birds Eye View brings a fantastic programme of world-class musicians and classic silent films to major arts venue and creative hub Kings Place.
I Dont Want to be a Man! directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Ossi Oswalda. Rebellious Ossi’s father hires a guardian to educate his daughter. Escaping from house-arrest dressed as a man, Ossi begins to investigate whether life is more liberated this way.
Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars on the contemporary jazz scene. Described in The Observer as “one of the finest young pianists in Europe”, Zoe has recorded four critially acclaimed albums, her second ‘Melting Pot’, was nominated for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize and was voted ‘Jazz Album of the Year’ at the 2006 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
The Danger Girl, directed by Clarence C. Badger stars Gloria Swanson. When vampish Helene (Swanson) uses her charms on Bobbie, Gloria breaks up the pair by disguising herself as a man to seduce Helene.
Juice is an experimental vocal trio specialising in vibrant, theatrical performances. They draw on world music, jazz, folk and pop, have commissioned countless new works and featured on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and Resonance FM. In June 2007, they came second in the internationally-renowned Tampere Vocal Festival, the only UK group ever to be prize-winners.
To book tickets etc go to http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/