The Columbus Symphony will perform the original compiled musical score to the famous Hollywood horror classic The Phantom of the Opera on March 31 at 8 p.m. at the Ohio Theatre. Carl Daehler will lead the Symphony with Dennis James playing the Ohio Theatre pipe organ. Soloist Martha Duersten-Pettit will also be featured in this silent masterpiece.
The 1925 silent-film version is a classic adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera. Lon Chaney stars in the title role as the masked and facially disfigured 'Phantom' who haunts the Paris Opera House causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star.
The beginning of silent film accompaniment around the turn of the century found pianists, organists and small ensembles performing whatever music happened to exist in their own particular repertoires - irrespective of the specifics of the individual film. As early silent films progressed in length and complexity, so did musical accompaniments grow from parlor, or popular favorites, to scores integrated into the emotional action in the film.
Daehler is a leading conductor of silent film scores. He has composed, compiled, and edited silent film scores to more than 30 film classics, including those starring Douglas Fairbanks, Lillian Gish, Buster Keaton, John Barrymore, Lon Chaney, Greta Garbo, and Charlie Chaplin. Daehler has appeared in over 100 performances as tour conductor for Silent Film Concerts, presented by world-renowned theater organist, Dennis James.
For 40 years, James has played a pivotal role in the international revival of silent films with live music. He 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 served as the final employed resident organist for the Ohio Theatre here in Columbus. James is also a featured solo performer on the international film festival circuit.
Soprano Martha Duersten-Pettit has delighted audiences in opera, oratorio, and in recital. Duersten-Pettit has appeared frequently with the Columbus Symphony, most recently in December’s Holiday Pops. Additional solo performances have included Handel's Messiah, Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, and Solveij in Peer Gynt.
Tickets for this performance range in price from $20.50 to $35.50 and can be purchased by calling the Customer Service Center at (614) 228-8600 or online at www.ColumbusSymphony.com.