Cinema in Concert is a new trend where people get an experience of watching a film with a live classical performance. SHAlINI SAKSENA tells you more
The era of silent black and white movies had its charm. But it is only once full features became common that music was compiled by the pianists, organists, orchestra conductors or the movie studios itself. The first score was composed in 1908, by Camille Saint-Saëns for The Assassination of the Duke of Guise but the most original score was composed by Joseph Carl Breil for DW Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation in 1915. However, once ways were devised to add dialogues, the orchestra in films more or less disappeared. Those that have survived, musicologists are now doing their best to reconstruct it via new compositions to revive the art form and give the audience a unique experience — Cinema in Concert.
While the concept of watching a movie and listening to a live concert may be somewhat of a novelty here in India, this trend has taken the West by storm, what with the Harry Potter film concert series back in 2016 by CineConcerts partnering with Warner Brothers Consumer Products.
Interestingly, the Harry Potter film concert series is not the only one. There is The Godfather in concert, Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage 50th-anniversary concert and Breakfast at Tiffany’s in concert among others.
In India, Showhouse is introducing this new trend through a 28-minute animation Magic Piano and The Chopin Shorts — a collection of other short films set to the compositions of legendary maestro Frederic Chopin. It is an interesting way of storytelling for children and adults alike. The idea is to tell a story through animation while performance will be given by the internationally acclaimed pianist Dinara Klinton from london.
Klinton who is on an India tour for Cinema in Concert tells you that this is her second visit to the country and has already had a performance in Delhi to a packed house who loved every bit on the experience. Her next stop is Kolkata and then on to Bengaluru.
“When I was in Mumbai last time doing workshops and performance the audience loved the idea of a live piano performance with the film running on a large canvas. Since the film was an animation, it is a great experience for not just the adults who children as well. They can see a film with a western classical music playing live. This is a great way to introduce people especially the young who may otherwise not be interested in listening to a western classical performance,” Klinton explains who is the prize-winner of over 15 international competitions.
Klinton, who was born in Ukraine and started her piano lessons at the age of five, tells you that while it may sound easy to play to a movie, it is not always the case.
“It depends on the film that is being played. let’s take the example of the most popular animation — Tom And Jerry, the earlier ones that didn’t have many dialogues. This series is fast-paced. I have to keep up with what is happening on the screen, at the same time I have to take into account any sound like a door banging or a dialogue. I have to pace myself accordingly. I have to constantly watch and screen and make sure that I don’t miss a note. Of course, over the years I have had plenty of practise so I am not worried about that. But this doesn’t mean that each piece I play doesn’t come with its challenges, it does. I now know how to work with them,” Klinton says.
She also tells you that this kind of concept comes with its artistic restrictions. “However, I have learnt to work with the two mediums. It requires a bit of coordination — with not just my hand and feet but also the eyes since I have to watch the screen instead of the keys. I just can’t be myself during the performance. But I make sure that the entire experience is enriching for the viewers,” Klinton says.
To gel western classical music with a cartoon may appear to be complicated Klinton tells you that most of the music that one hears in an animation has a piano in the orchestra as was the case with silent movies decades back.
“Again, I give an example of Tom And Jerry. It has mostly high-class jazz music played immaculately by the orchestra, it also has quite a bit of classical. The animation helped me understand how classical music worked in motions when I was a child. This helped me connect emotionally,” Klinton shares.
She tells you that for Cinema in Concert one can take any film as long as action onscreen and the performance match. Some projects need to be adapted, some like Magic Piano and Chopin Stories are authentic and retain their core.
“The idea is to give people a proper classical music recital. At the same time give them a wider experience with a motion feature playing. This way people can be engaged even though they don’t understand what is being performed since the classical recital is supported by what is happening in the film,” Klinton says who opines that there is certain kind of films and animations that can be adapted.
The idea to perform for this concept came five years back in the UK for a project when a few people came together who wanted to have a live pianist play and make it more of a concert rather than just cinema. “I was called in since they knew that I had a few ideas in my repertoire. It took me four-five days to put everything together, it was demanding but we did manage to pull it off. Since then I have been a part of this idea,” Klinton tells you that the great thing about this concept is that one doesn’t need to know the language, music is self-explanatory which can be enjoyed by five-year-olds and 80-year-olds too.
“The idea is to bring something new to the Indian audience and promote western classical music,” Klinton says.