Student orchestra to perform live alongside silent films at Towson’s college of the arts
By Kendra Bryant, Deputy Arts & Life Editor
Towson University’s College of Fine Arts and Communications CoLab invites students to “take a time machine” and attend the Silent Films with Orchestra event on March 12 at 8 p.m. The TU Symphony Orchestra will play live alongside three short films in the Harold J. Kaplan Concert Hall.
The event is free for Towson students, and special guest Andrew Greene, founder of the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra, will conduct the student orchestra.
“Watching a silent film with an entire live orchestra is an experience,” said Marc May, Towson professor and co-director of CoLabs.
The three silent films will be Charlie Chaplin’s “The Rink,” Alice Guy-Blaché’s “Making an American Citizen” and Laurel & Hardy’s “Big Business.” In honor of Women’s History Month, the performance showcases a woman-directed silent film, which was rare at the time. There will also be musical pieces composed by African American composers like Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”
“Sadly in history, you discover that there are women directors and African American composers,” May said. “But not many.”
Silent Films is the theme of CoLabs The Past: Augmentation, Interdependence, Extinction, which is a part of the COFAC’s multi-year long collaboration, Adaptive Artistry: The Convergence of Human Creativity & Technology series.
“Marc and I decided to base this theme on the centerpiece of the past,” Towson music professor and CoLabs co-director Luis Engelke said. “Technology is not as valued in the present as it was once in the past.”
When films first originated, directors solely filmed everyday events.
“It wasn’t until people understood the importance of film that they decided to add music,” May said.
Since silent films are not often produced now, Towson strings professor Joseph Gotoff encourages students to attend for the new experience.
“We don’t get to see these often,” Gotoff said. “The themes are relevant and provide a different form of entertainment than what we’re used to.”
CoLab encourages students to attend in business casual attire.