Friday, May 6th 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
‘Music for the General’ is a concert of live original music composed by Humboldt Co. native Gregg Moore and set to the action of the Buster Keaton masterpiece ‘The
General’. The program was initially conceived in 2002 on commission from the Cine Clube de Covilhã, a group of cinema enthusiasts in the university town of Covilhã in the central mountains of Portugal.
The music describes the entire 74 min. of the madcap, rough & tumble action of the film and reflects a wide variety of influences from parlor songs evocative of mid 19th century America to angular late 20th century experimentalism and improvisation. Military marches, love songs, cartoon music, the film music of Ennio Morricone, Danny Elfman and Nino Rota and the circus qualities inherent in Klezmer music are all channeled to musically animate this product of the cinematic genius of Buster Keaton.
The premier was wildly acclaimed and the program went on to 25 more performances throughout Portugal at various music and film festivals over the next
two years. The program was first performed in the US as part of the Annie & Mary Days festivities at the Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake, California in June 2007. More
recently a series of concerts in rural areas of Humboldt County was funded in part by a music-industry antitrust settlement, the California Arts Council, a state agency, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, in a grant to The Ink People Center for the Arts.
The present ensemble consists of an all-star cast of Humboldt County instrumentalists including Humboldt State Universiy faculty and alumni, stalwarts of the local folk, rock and jazz worlds.
Russ Thallheimer – tenor saxophone
Jesse Garate – alto saxophone
Matt Wardynski – clarinet
Seth Mattingly – percussion
Gilbert Cline – trumpet
Gregg Moore – tuba, trombone, banjo, mandolin
Tickets are $20, or $18 for Playhouse members, Seniors and Students. For more information and to reserve tickets go to arcataplayhouse.org, or purchase tickets at Wildberries Marketplace in Arcata. Guests will be required to wear masks at this event. (707) 822-1575
