Chorus Niagara brings Phantom to arts centre
JOHN LAW
For one night, it’ll be the Phantom of the Performing Arts Centre.
Chorus Niagara has a date with Lon Chaney when it presents the classic 1925 silent film complete with a 100-voice choral soundtrack and organ accompaniment.
The score is compiled by Chorus Niagara artistic director Robert Cooper, who has brought silent films and to Niagara in previous seasons.
“Our audiences were huge, we had to do them twice,” recalls Cooper. “We were doing them in a church with a very small capacity. Now we’ve got the PAC, which is a much bigger capacity.”
A horror classic best known for its macabre sets and star Lon Chaney’s grisly makeup, the film has been deemed culturally significant by the Library of Congress, which chose it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It is often performed with a live orchestra for modern audiences.
For his score, Cooper chose music from the world of French opera (Bizet, Saint-Siens) to go with Tchaikovsky and Boito. To
Chorus Niagara
What: The Phantom of the Opera / silent film Where: FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines When: May 3, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $5 to $42; www. firstontariopac.ca enhance the mood in specific scenes, he chose traditional choral composers such as Morricone, Ravel and Stravinsky.
Elsewhere, organist Lynne Honsberger will improvise, as pianists did during the silent film era.
The effect Cooper.
“They don’t see us,” he says. “They’re watching the movie and they’re just hearing these sounds of the chorus in the background. They’re buying into it.”
In Toronto, Cooper also scored the 1924 silent film version of
which he may bring to Niagara next. He views cinema as unique way to bring choral music to the masses.
“It’s another way for me to introduce people to the choral art,” he says. “Have them see how it can bring a different kind of enjoyment that they might not have thought about before.” jlaw@postmedia.com is seamless, says