PACIFIC SYMPHONY BRINGS ACCLAIMED SILENT FILM ORGANIST
DENNIS JAMES TO PERFORM HIS REVAMPED “PHANTOM OF THE OPERA” SOUNDTRACK ON MARCH 17
Pacific Symphony brings silent film organist Dennis James to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall to perform on the iconic William J. Gillespie pipe organ on Sunday, March 17 at 3 p.m. James will play the chilling organ accompaniment to the horror classic, “Phantom of the Opera,” while the 1925 black-and-white film starring Lon Chaney is projected on a huge high-definition screen above the stage. This concert is part of 2018-19 Pipes and Pedals series, sponsored by Valerie and Barry Hon. Tickets for the show start at $10, and are available by calling the Box Office at (714) 755-5799 or visiting Pacific Symphony’s website, https://www.pacificsymphony.org.
“Phantom of the Opera” is the tale of a lonely and deformed organist’s pursuit of love. Attempting to boost the career of the women of his affection from a starlet into a celebrity, the organist haunts the corridors of the Paris Opera House, infamously transforming into the “Opera Ghost.” Originally published as a novel in 1910 by Gaston Leroux, the story was adapted into a horror film in 1925 by the founder of Universal Studios, Carl Laemmle. Despite encountering its own production drawbacks while filming, the adaptation’s success eventually inspired the now-classic Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical in 1986. Interestingly, although the overwhelming success of the Webber musical, in part because of its haunting and hypnotic score, the 1925 film soundtrack composed by J. Carl Briel was lost to history until Dennis James conjured his own hybrid score. James took on the monstrous task of creating a score that embodies the unfolding drama with a plethora of note colors, textures and the commanding lines of a pipe organ to characterize the “Phantom” himself.
