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ALLOY ORCHESTRA |
Contact: Ken Winokur
613 Cambridge St
Cambridge MA 02141
617 497-6508
alloyo@verizon.net
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"Alloy has brought fresh air to a world thought left to nostalgics. They've done more than anyone lately to bring an audience to silent films. They give voice to the soul of their machines, and by doing that, they've given voice to no less than the sound of cinema" Paolo Cherchi Usai - co director of Pordenone Silent Film Festival
ALLOY ORCHESTRA is a three man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources.
Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
An unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable. Utilizing their famous "rack of junk" and electronic synthesizers, the group generates beautiful music in a spectacular variety of styles. They can conjure up a French symphony or a simple German bar band of the 20's. The group can make the audience think it is being attacked by tigers, contacted by radio signals from Mars or swept up in the Russian Revolution.
Alloy collaborates with some of the worlds best archives and collectors (such as the George Eastman House, The British Film Institute, Paramount pictures, Film Preservation Associates and The Douris Corporation) to present audiences with the very best available prints of some of history's greatest film.
The members of the group include (left to right) :
TERRY DONAHUE (junk, accordion, musical saw, vocals)
KEN WINOKUR (director, junk percussion and clarinet)
ROGER MILLER (keyboards)
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Almost 22 Years! NEW MUSIC FOR SILENT FILMS
On a snow-swept pedestle in the middle of Boston Commons, three musicians gathered together tons of junk metal, found objects, and homemade instruments. The plan was to create some unusual music and to have some fun. Now almost 22 years later, Alloy has showcased their musical magic in more than a thousand performances, visited a dozen countries, and in the process has helped revitalize the medium of live performance for silent film. the beginning of a year long schedule of performances, they are calling "The Best of Alloy Orchestra.
The Alloy Orchestra began their love affair with silent films with an original score for Metropolis in 1991. In the intervening years, the group has written scores for 28 feature length film presentations, typically premiering their new scores at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, the San Francisco Silent film Festival or the New York Film Festival
This year Alloy is working on two new programs: SHINEL (The Overcoat, 1926, USSR, directed by Kozintsev and Trauberg), and SHORT FILMS BY BUSTER KEATON AND FATTY ARBUCKLE.he group has performed more than a thousand shows around the world, and has traveled to a dozen foreign countries.
Alloy has composed new scores for:
TFrom Morning to Midnight - dir. Kark Heinz Martin (Germany, 1920)
Underworld - directed by Josef von Sternberg (US, 1927)
Phantom of the Opera - staring Lon Chaney (US, 1925/29)
The Eagle - staring Rudolph Valentino (US, 1927)
The General - (staring Buster Keaton)
Chang – A Drama of the Wilderness (directed by Cooper & Schoedsack)
Blackmail (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
Earth (directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930)
Speedy by Harold Lloyd (US, 1928),
The Black Pirate by Douglas Fairbanks (U.S. 1926),
The Lost World (U.S. 1925),
Manslaughter directed by Cecil B. Demille n(U.S. 1922),
The Wind with Lilian Gish (American, l927),
Nosferatu directed by F.W. Murnau (German, l922),
Lonesome directed by Paul Fejos (U.S. 1928-9).
A Man With a Movie Camera directed by Dziga Vertov (USSR 1929),
The Unknown directed by Tod Browning (US, 1927),
Steamboat Bill Jr. by Buster Keaton (US, 1927),
Strike directed by Sergei Eisenstein (USSR, 1924).
Sylvester – Directed by Lupu Pick (Germany)
Aelita – Queen of Mars (USSR)
South - (England, 1919)
Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang (Germany, l926)
Shorts
Not Just for Kids - a collection of some of Alloy's favorite shorts
Wild and Weird - short films by various directors
Dada Shorts and Early American Surrealism: Films by Duchamp, Richter, Porter and Keaton
A Trip to the Moon directed by George Melies (1904, France)
Plane Crazy (Mikey Mouse’s first appearance) 1926
Pass the Gravy - directed by Hal Roach
One Week – Buster Keaton
Easy Street – Charlie Chaplin
Big Business – Laurel and Hardy
Chasing Choo Choos – Monte Bell
Backstage – Rosco “Fatty” Arbuckle
The Bell Boy - Arbuckle
The Butcher Boy - Arbuckle
The Hayseed - Arbuckle
Moonshine - Arbuckle
The Garage - Arbuckle
Goodnight Nurse - Arbuckle
The Rough House - Arbuckle
Coney Island – Arbuckle
Out West – Arbuckle
CONTEMPORARY FILM AND VIDEO SCORES:
In addition to their work with silents, the Orchestra has contributed soundtracks to contemporary films and videos by directors Errol Morris (Fast, Cheap and Out of Control), Jane Gillooly (Dragonflies, the Baby Cries), Ben Meade (Vakvagny), Shandor Garrison (Freebox) and others.
In the last 18 years, the ALLOY ORCHESTRA HAS PERFORMED AT:
Telluride Film Festival
Lincoln Center, NY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
The National Gallery of Art, Wash. DC
Roger Eberts Film Festival, Champaign Il
The Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Italy
Human Rights Watch Film Festival, London
The Louvre, Paris
Slovenian Cinematheque
L'Auditorium, Barcelona Spain
Midnight Sun Film Festival, Finland
Gothenberg Film Festival, Sweeden
The New Zealand Int. Arts Festival, New Zealand
Celebrate Brooklyn NY
BAM NYC
Detroit Institute of Art
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival, CA
The Chicago Cultural Center
World Music at Somerville Theater, MA
The Oriental Theater, Milwaukee WI
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Music Hall, Portsmouth NH
Maui Film Festival, Hawaii
Seattle Film Festival, WA
North Carolina Museum of Art, NC
Northhampton Film Fest, MA
Cornell Cinema, Ithica NY
Three Rivers Film Festival, Pittsburg PA
Oak St. Cinema Minneapolis MN
The Philadelphia Film Festival
George Eastman House, Rochester NY
The High Museum, Alanta
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
The Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College NH
Museum of Fine Art, Boston
New York University NY
The Walt Disney Institute
The Olympia WA Film Festival
The Wolfsonian Museum, Miami
Williams College
Brown University
The St. Louis Film Festival
The Vancouver Film Festival, Canada
The NuArt Theater, L.A.
The Portland Oregon Museum of Art
The Cinema Village, N.Y.C.
The Art Institute of Chicago
Webster University, St. Louis
Taos Talking Pictures, NM
The Joslyn Museum, Omaha
The Rose Theatre, Port Townsend WA
The Colonial Theater, Bethlehem NH
And many others....
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