Yvo Verschoor
SILENTSOUND
Film Concerts
tel.: 0031 620972933
e-mail: info@yvoverschoor.nl
Welcome to this page with information about my filmconcerts and special programmes.
I like to show people the beauty and diversity of historic films in combination with the art of improvisation with images.
The programmes I put together arise from my passion for those specific films.
These images touch me, I find them hilarious or moving, the subject interests me or they fit perfectly to certain music. Therefore I prefer putting fragments and films together in a way, my programmes emphasize certain filmhistorical or musical themes.
The art of improvisation with (or without) film keeps intriging me.
Quality of sound to me is very important, because it determines the atmosphere.
To make the art of improvisation and 'magic' of a performance with silent film work, I usually travel together with my own grandpiano, a historic concertgrand
wich I call 'Frau Blüthner'.
This beautiful piano was built in 1897 (only two years after the invention of film)
at the Blüthner factory in Leipzig, in a time when tonal quality was more important then merely volume. It can really sing, whisper and roar; exactly what you need to make these old films come alive.
Please have a look around and scroll down for prices & more information.
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Yvo and Frau Blüthner set up for Open Air Filmconcert at Vondelpark Amsterdam (july 2010)
Solo Film Concerts:
-Silent Pianos-
Comical and informative filmprogramme
with the piano itself in a major role.
Fragments of early cinema from 1907 (Gaumont) of a little boy (Bébé) desperately in love with a pianoteacher, with Charlie Chaplin as pianomover (1914) and films with Buster Keaton (1920/23),
Laurel and Hardy (1929), Luis Bunuel (1929), Dziga Vertov (1929) and other stars of the silent era like in 'The marriage circle' (Ernst Lubitsch 1924).
The 'Bechstein-Kultur-Film'
shows the whole buildingproces of a high quality piano in
Berlin in 1926.
To give an impression of the size and importance of the pianobuilding industry at that time, around 1900 only in the city of Berlin there were over a hundred pianomanufacturers, a number that is hard to imagine at the present time.
dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Trains-
Silent Trains shows films and fragments with (steam engine) trains.
At the beginning of cinematography there was, aswell as amongst visual artists and composers of the time,
a huge fascination for motion, industrialisation, modernism and machines.
Basically anything that moved was grateful subject to set down on camera.
In 1895 at a small station in southern France 'Le Ciotat', the inventors of film, the Lumiëre brothers, filmed an incoming train. The story tells people ran away terrified at at the first performances of this film...
'The great Trainrobbery' (1903) was the first western and 'Conway Castle' (1905) looks very much like a moving impressionistic painting. 'The Lonedale Operator' (D.W.Griffith 1911) uses for that time new montage and cutting techniques for a story full of suspence.Buster Keaton was mad about trains and used them in a lot of his films ('One Week' 1920, 'Sherlock Jr.' 1923, 'Our Hospitality' 1923) and his favourite film 'The General' (1927) is a lovestory mostly about a locomotive and a chase.
Trains where used and filmed completely different in 'Berlin, Sinfonie der Großstadt' (Walther Ruttmann 1927) and 'A Man with a Moviecamera' (Dziga Vertov, 1929).
dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Creeps-
Silent Twits shows horrible creeps and scary monsters, horror and suspence in silent movies.
Haunted houses, bloodsucking creatures, pre-historic animals, breathtaking scenes...
More information will follow soon...
Next showing october 16th 2010, Pianolamuseum Amsterdam
dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Romances-
Highlights of romantic moments of the silent era.
Enjoy amorous
adventures, love affairs, despair, worship and rejection in silent film, accompanied by
music of the masters of the romantic repertoire. An evening full of Rameau, Mozart, Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Strawinsky and Jazz
and much more.
Melodramatic, moving and tragicomic situations, beautifly filmed and interpreted by filmpianist Yvo Verschoor with romantic improvisations on his historical and beloved concertgrand Frau Blüthner.
Dvd projection, duration ± 90 mins.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Snow-
Silent Snow is a romantic winter-journey back in time.
Antique Christmas-films with toys, good food and lots of snow and ice.
Dicken's 'A Christmas Carol (1910), Robert Falcon Scotts' expedition to the South Pole (1913),
Santa Claus (animation 1925) and lovely dinners in 'The Goldrush' (Chaplin 1925).
dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Cities-
Silent Cities consists of films and fragments in wich the city plays a prominent role
in many different ways.
Industrialisation and enormous growth were common in many cities in the early nineteenhundreds.
Paris (in 1909 and in 1924 through the eyes of René Clair), Amsterdam (1915-1925), Berlin (1899 and as main character in 'Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt' in 1927) and New York (in 'The Crowd' 1929), wich in many ways looks similar to Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' (1927) or Chaplin's for that time futuristic 'Modern Times' (1936).
Dvd-projection, ± 90 min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Ships-
Silent Ships is a filmprogramme all about sailingships and steamvessels,
small boats and luxury yachts of the silent film era.
Nostalgic harbor- and riversights from The Netherlands,
the river Rhine in 1922
and spectacular images aboard
one of the last commercially sailing tallships,
'Pamir' in 1930 in a storm (see picture). The Dutch fishingboats (smacks) of the twenties,
heroic whalers at work and breathtaking stunts of Buster Keaton in 'The love nest' (1923),
'The Boat' (1921) and 'The Navigator' (1924).
Premiëre march 13th 2010, Pianolamuseum Amsterdam
Dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Silent Animals-
Silent Animals is a hilarious programme with silent films and fragments with animals in the main role.
'Stan Laurel on safari'(1925), 'Soul of the Beast' (1923) with Elephant Oscar, the strange 'Bettes comme les hommes' (Alfred Machin, 1922) completely acted by real animals, cute dogs in Chaplin's 'A dog's Life'(1917) and of course 'Rin Tin Tin', the most famous dogstar ever, who played in no less then 15 feature films between 1922 and 1931. Also early Disney characters like the most famous filmmouse and filmduck of all times, Mickey and Donald will appear on the screen.
dvd-projection ± 90min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Film & Pianola-
Every month (2nd saturday) new programmes at the unique and attractive Pianolamuseum in Amsterdam.
Silent film and Pianola (playerpiano) were both invented in 1895 and both 'died out' in the early thirties
due to new technology and crisis, but they have more in common...
Unique films (1895-1930), accompanied by authentic piano-rolls from the collection of the Pianolamuseum (over 30000 rolls!) played by pianolist Kasper Janse.
Also many live improvisations by Yvo Verschoor.
The museum can also be hired for small groups up to ± 50 people.
Some of these special programmes can also be shown at other locations.
If you want information about all possibilities, please send e-mail.
-Cinema Brut-
Compilation-programme consisting of short absurdistic films
made at the earliest time of cinematography (1898-1912)
About very basic ways of filming, weird choices of subjects,
strange stories that actually aren't stories and about mis-use and use of actors.
About music with film and film with music
in combination with
Avant-Garde masterpieces from the Twenties.
dvd-projection ± 80min.
Compiled and presented by: Yvo Verschoor
Music: Yvo Verschoor
fragment Theaterbar Berlin 2008
-Buster Keaton-
stills from 'The General' 1927
Buster Keaton became worldfamous as 'pokerface' and 'the man
who never smiled' and
used to do all, often very dangerous, stunts
by himself.
Several
programms possible:
'The General',
'Our Hospitality', 'One Week', 'Steamboat Bill Jr.', 'Sherlock Jr.', 'The Love Nest' and many other fantastic
films.
Lots of Keatons short films and fragments are also part of other programmes by Yvo Verschoor. (see above)
live
fragment performance 'The Boat'
-The man with
the moviecamera-
(Tsjelovek s kinoapparatom)1929
by Dziga Vertov.
Experimental film with the camera itself in the main role.
A symphonic tribute to 'modern' life in Russia.
dvd-projection ± 68 min.
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-The
Goldrush-
16mm
silent version from 1925.
One of Chaplin's masterpieces about the tramp looking for fortune.
Legendary scenes in mountaincabin, visions of roasted chickens,
eating baken soles,
the famous dance of the breadroles and of
course a happy end!
16mm film or Dvd projection, ± 95 min.
Music: Yvo Verschoor
-Berlin,
die Sinfonie der Großstadt-
Walther Ruttmann (1927)
Beautiful documentary about one day in Berlin in the roaring twenties, and everything that moves within the city: the people, the traffic, the industry, the light - from early morning silence till energetic nightlife. After a series of abstract films about movement (Opus I-IV)
this Avant-Garde filmmaker made a cinematographic portret of the big city, the first
'City-Symphony'. The result is a forceful and rithmical collage of images.
Dvd-projection, ± 62 min.
Music: Yvo Verschoor
live
fragment Yvo Verschoor accompanies 'Berlin, die Sinfonie der Großstadt'
Theater
De Uitkijk Amsterdam 2008
Live
fragment Yvo Verschoor accompanies 'Bed and Sofa'
Theaterbar Berlin 2008
Yvo & Frau Blüthner with 'Bed and Sofa' in Berlin (foto Martin Stoop, 2008)
Many other special programmes and films are possible...
If you want a filmconcert about a certain theme for your special event? Please Ask!
For
events-calender please click > AGENDA (at this time unfortunately only available in Dutch. My apologies!)
Because the quality of sound is very important to make the art of improvisation and 'magic' of a performance with silent film work, Yvo Verschoor
often travels together with his historic concertgrand
'Frau Blüthner',
on wich he prefers to perform his filmconcerts whenever possible.
This beautiful piano was built in 1897 (only two years after the invention of cinema)
at the Blüthner factory in Leipzig, in a time when tonal quality was more important then merely volume.
It can really sing, whisper and roar...exactly what is needed to make old films come alive.
Blüthner factory in Leipzig around 1900
Filmconcerts
always by mutual agreement and
depending on location and theme.
please send mail for Prices & Information
Prices programmes from €850,- inclusive concertgrand piano,
filmprogramme (on dvd), projectionscreen & beamer
Extra costs copyrights and users allowances for films depending on
possible claimants and performing situation.
Locations exclusively at main floor or accessible with (large) elevator.
telephone: 0031 620972933
e-mail: info@yvoverschoor.nl
FilmConcert inclusive:
-Concertgrand Blüthner
230cm
-Filmscreen 3x2,25m
-16mm film + projector Eiki or
-
DVD + Beamer Eiki LC-X70 5000 Ansilumen
Also available:
-Aeolian Pianola 1902 (only in combination with concertgrand)
-Amplifier, microphones Neumann
-Theater lighting
-DVD player(s)
-Filmscreens 1,75x1,35m/ 4 x 3m
-Stage
trailer 3,60 x 1,80 m (Fragment
open air FilmConcert 'The Kid' ,Vondelpark Amsterdam)
Yvo Verschoor & violinist Marike Verheul
-Concerts
with live improvisations
with (or without) film-
fragment
1 : Heftug!
fragment
2 : Seagull
fragment
3 : scene from 'The
Iron Mask'
fragment
4 : scene from 'The
Iron Mask'
Marike and Yvo accompanied many silent movies
and therefore developed
their own unique style of improvisation together.
This resulted in several compositions, some of wich
were recently recorded on cd.
Marike and Yvo in front of the little church
where they recorded their cd l'Improviste
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For upcoming events-calender please click > AGENDA (at this time only in Dutch, my apologies!)
