If anything makes it to your Spoleto Festival bucket list, let it be Program III from the Bank of America Chamber Music series, which has its last two performances May 30.
A walk inside the Dock Street Theatre signifies a good chance you’re headed back in time to be struck by the virtuosic classical works of Haydn and Mozart, or moved by the Romantic masterpieces of Beethoven and Schubert. But Program III of this season’s 11-part chamber series had something equally, if not more, exciting in store.
Showcasing music from early Hollywood, Program III had audiences roaring with laughter and applauding Charles Koechlin’s Épitaphe de Jean Harlow and Stephen Prutsman’s original scoring of Seven Chances, a 1925 silent comedy by Buster Keaton.
Saxophonist Steven Banks took the stage with flutist Tara Helen O’Connor and pianist Pedja Muzijevic to introduce Koechlin’s dedication piece to American cinema’s first “Blonde Bombshell.”
“The composer had an obsession with Hollywood,” Banks said. Just a few years prior to the epitaph, Koechlin composed The Seven Stars’ Symphony, a token of his appreciation for Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Lilian Harvey, Greta Garbo, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings.
Banks, O’Connor and Muzijevic’s playing, however, gave Harlow more star-power than those seven celebrities combined. Épitaphe de Jean Harlow is just barely four minutes long, but the ensemble had more than enough time to woo the crowd with their luscious harmonies and impressive chemistry.
The trio’s ability to meld without overpowering one another is a necessity for chamber music, or any ensemble, for that matter. But when done well and done thoroughly, the performers take listeners from interested to starstruck.
After the appetizer of the Harlow epitaph came the main course—Seven Chances, accompanied by Prutsman’s own score, played in real time while the movie was projected on a screen above the stage.
Keaton’s silent film follows main character Jimmy on his hilarious search for a bride. Jimmy’s set to inherit seven million dollars from his grandfather, but only if he’s married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday. And of course, the film takes place that very day.
Before the houselights came down and the film began, violinist Owen Dalby asked the crowd, “Do you have any idea what you’re in for today?” Judging by the collective giddiness, people were ready for the movie to begin.
Prutsman’s musical sense of humor matched exceptionally well with the wackiness of the plot and acting. His intentional wrong notes and quotations from Chopin’s “Funeral March” and the Monday Night Football theme proved that being silly is sometimes a more creative way of being smart.
On many occasions, Prutsman has called O’Connor “the best flute player on the planet.” And he was right again for Program III. O’Connor battled bassist Anthony Manzo in vigorous solos during the film’s notable chase scene. Meanwhile, violist Lesley Roberston and cellist Christopher Constanza held their ground, keeping the music full of life and momentum.
The quintet’s playing fit so seamlessly alongside Seven Chances that it was easy to forget it was live.
When the Bank of America Chamber Music series last featured Prutsman’s scoring of a Buster Keaton film (Sherlock, Jr.), it was chosen as the best performance of the 2007 Spoleto Festival. It would not be a surprise if Prutsman won yet again this season.
Program III is a must-see—and not just for the usual chamber music fans and movie buffs. Anyone who love to laugh can (and likely will) enjoy this special concert.
IF YOU PLAN TO GO: Chamber Music III will play at Dock Street Theatre again on Tuesday, May 30, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets are $57.50 to $93.
Piper Starnes is an arts journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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