Live Music for Silent Classics

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to sit in a movie theater 120 years go? The six-piece ensemble collectively known as “Silent But Deadly” will return to the 2024 Connecting Chords Music Festival to perform original soundtracks to silent films shown at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Saturday, October 5.

There will be two performances – 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Admission is free to the public, tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Donations to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum and Connecting Chords Music Festival will be accepted on site.

The performances will include a mix of original and compiled film scores created specially for four period silent shorts. The audience will be pulled into the world of Charles Ogle, Fatty Arbuckle, and Charlie Chaplin, in films produced between 1902 and 1914: A Christmas Carol (1910), Tango Tangles (1914), Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), and Frankenstein (1910).

Join us for a trip back in time before sound films or theater organs. Back when small orchestras brought music and sound effects to the films, while the audience actively cheered the heroes and booed the villains. And yes, active audience participation will not only be encouraged but expected!

About the Musicians

Silent But Deadly is a chamber orchestra compiled of Kalamazoo-based professional musicians whose purpose is to bring the art of the silent film orchestra back to the modern era. Their chief mission is to compose new music for silent classics while providing an entertaining and informative look at the world of silent film orchestration.

• Brandon Pacheco – Composer, violin, viola, mandolin
• Audrey Jansma – Violin
• Taylor Crow – Cello
• Jonathan Moody – Composer, bass
• Cara Lieurance – Flute, accordion
• Jesse Williams – Clarinet, saxophones