Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Live Performance of Phantom of the ...

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Live Performance of
Phantom of the Opera Silent Film Soundtrack
at Shea's Performing Arts Center
For Immediate Release: April 3, 2012
Contact: Jennifer L. Smith
Media & Community Relations
716-242-7819
jsmith@bpo.org
April 3, 2012: Buffalo, NY-- The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Shea's Performing Arts Center presents one of
the greatest horror films of all times, the 1925 silent film "The Phantom of the Opera" with organist Dennis James and
the BPO live at Shea's Performing Arts Center on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 2:30pm.
"This is a very unique event as it has been since the 1930s that a live orchestra has performed to a silent movie at
Shea's. We are excited to once again collaborate with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra," said Tony Conte,
President of Shea's Performing Arts Center.
Based on the 1910 novel, "Le Fantome de l'opera by Gasto Leroux", this 1925 silent film classic features Lon Chaney in
the title role as the deformed 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.
Experience the thrill when the classic film is accompanied by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra live, under the
baton of conductor Bradley Thachuk, Music Director & Principal Conductor, Niagara Symphony, St. Catherine's
Ontario alongside organist Dennis James, Director Of Silent Film Concerts and Lecturer, Rutgers University, who will
perform on the restored Shea's Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, one of the largest in New York State in its original location.
"Dennis James is both a musician of tremendous artistic scope and range, and a scholar who strives to preserve and
restore this unique 20th century musical practice, " said Stephen Salmons, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Silent
Film Festival. "He is without doubt the greatest practitioner of the art of solo silent film accompaniment. To witness a
contemporary audience experience the beauty and power of silent film through the overwhelming symphonic
dynamism that Dennis James unleashes with unerring skill on the theatre organ is an absolute revelation. He's a
national treasure."
Ticket prices are $25, $38, $53 & $65 premium and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000,
online at ticketmaster.com and Shea's Ticket Office.
For more information about the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra visit www.bpo.org
About the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
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As Buffalo's cultural ambassador, the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of music director JoAnn
Falletta presents more than 120 Classics, Pops and Youth Concerts each year and reaches over 40,000 students per year (K-12) across all eight
counties of Western New York. Since 1940, the orchestra's permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Site with an
international reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the United States. During the tenure of current music director JoAnn Falletta, the
BPO has rekindled its distinguished history of NPR broadcasts and recordings. The Philharmonic's Naxos recording of composer John
Corigliano's "Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan," featuring soprano Hila Plitmann, won Grammys in two categories of the three
for which it was nominated: Classical Vocal Performance and Classical Contemporary Composition.

Dennis James, organist
For more than forty years, Dennis James has played a pivotal role in the international revival of silent films presented with live music. Starting
as a pianist for university screenings, James now tours worldwide under auspices of his Silent Film Concerts production company presenting
professional silent film screenings with piano, theatre organ, chamber ensemble and full symphony orchestra accompaniments. Performing
for films with orchestras since 1971 throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico and Europe, James is renowned for providing the most
comprehensive selection of authentic silent films with live music presentations available today.
In a career filled with diverse activities, he has appeared together with such popular film personalities as Vincent Price, Ray Bolger, Bob Hope,
Red Skelton, Myrna Loy, Olivia DeHavilland, Ginger Rogers and Fay Wray. He toured throughout the 1980s with silent film stars Lillian Gish
and Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, providing musical accompaniment on national tour revivals of their motion pictures.
Dennis James and Silent Film Concerts have amassed one of the largest private libraries of authentic silent film music in existence today,
acquired via film musicians, film music collectors and from historic theatres throughout the world. It includes complete original film scores
plus hundreds of published generic silent film music compositions that are used to create historically accurate new musical scores where the
originals do not survive. The resulting accompaniment performances are presented as historical recreations faithful to scoring practices of the
period of each individual film's original release.
Bradley Thachuk
Thachuk joins the Niagara Symphony as Music Director & Principal Conductor in the 2011-12 Season. During the 2010-11 Niagara Symphony
Season, he served as Music Director Designate & Principal Conductor while he concluded a successful nine-year term as Associate Conductor
with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. Thachuk served as conducting assistant for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras in 2000-01 and
continued association with these orchestras as a part-time cover conductor.
Thachuk received his masters degree and began doctoral studies in conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
with Mark Gibson and Christopher Zimmerman, and continued his studies privately with conductor Paavo Järvi, Music Director Laureate of the
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. Born in Toronto, he began his musical studies at the age of 5 on
the classical guitar. Following further studies in guitar, french horn and piano at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Thachuk received
a bachelor of music performance in guitar from the University of Toronto.