Chaplin Meets Music

“Hello! Chaplin, Original Film Festival” will be held from Mar. 14 to 16 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts where an audience will enjoy silent films such as “Modern Times,” “The Gold Rush,” and “City Lights,” while listening to the Seoul Philharmonic play film score conducted by Carl Davis. Charlie Chaplin, who was an actor and director, was an influential figure in the 20th century.

American-born but British-based maestro Carl Davis (70) has been a conductor for the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the BBC Philharmonic. He also composes music. When he reinterpreted the film score of “City Lights” at a charity event hosted by Princess Diana in 1989, he received a standing ovation. Since then, he has shown his talent in playing Charlie Chaplin’s film music as well as orchestrating and composing film scores such as “Napoleon,” "Ben Hur," "The Phantom of the Opera," and “Pride and Prejudice.”

This festival is the same performance as the “Charlie Chaplin” festival held in Royal Festival Hall in Nov. 2003. At that time, he played Charlie Chaplin’s film music with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, while showing eight of Chaplin’s movies. Tickets for the event were all sold out.

“The Chaplin Foundation requested that I restore the music score for ‘City Lights’ to commemorate the 100th birthday of Chaplin in 1989. The moment I listened to the music, I fell in love with it,” Carl Davis wrote in his program notes for a performance in Malaysia in 2003.

For the festival, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts will install a large screen to project six of Chaplin’s original films over a three day period. Three short films, “The Cure,” “Behind the Screen,” and “The Adventurer,” will be introduced for the first time in Korea. On Mar. 7, film critic Yoo Ji-na, a professor at Dongguk University will give a lecture on Chaplin’s life and films at 5 p.m. at Sejong Academy. Ticket prices range from 28,000 won to 148,000 won. For more information, call (02) 399-1112.

raphy@donga.com