Silent film music
at its best!
The Capitol’s Theater Organ
One of the most impressive aspects of Capitolfest is the silent film musical accompaniment. While many theater organs across the globe were removed or gradually dismantled from their original locations in the decades following the silent film era, the Capitol’s theater organ was spared this fate. Instead, the instrument has been the center of a long-term restoration project that has allowed it to be functional and enjoyed by theater-goers of all ages. It is believed that this extraordinary instrument is the only Möller theater organ operating with its original relay and switching system.
Beginning with a performance by organist Robert S. Bancroft on the Capitol’s opening night (December 10, 1928), the Capitol’s 3-manual, 7-rank Möller theater organ was an important aspect of a visit to the theater. Its condition gradually declined over the years due to water damage and aging of materials. However, the Rome Grand Theatre Organ Society began a restoration process in the early 2000s. In 2005, the Society restored the console's lift, which had been removed around 1990. Small-scale repairs and maintenance projects continued until 2020.
Beginning in 2020, dramatic progress was made as Peckham & Son Pipe Organ Service became the Möller’s chief restorationist. This initiated a comprehensive evaluation and restoration of the instrument, which has dramatically improved the organ's functionality. Each year, the instrument is used to accompany silent films throughout Capitolfest. The Möller has also been used to accompany one-time presentations of films like Sherlock Jr. (1924), present concerts during major theater occasions like the Capitol’s 95th anniversary and marquee lighting, and for entrance and exit music at talkie movie events.
Organists
Dr. Philip C. Carli
Dr. Philip C. Carli discovered silent film at the age of five and began his accompaniment career at thirteen, with a performance for Lon Chaney’s 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While at college he programmed and accompanied an annual series of silent films, and also organized and conducted a 50-piece student orchestra using 19th-century performance practice. Since then, he has continued his studies of the film, music, and culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, earning a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music.
Dr. Carli has toured extensively as a film accompanist throughout North America and Europe, performing on keyboard and with orchestra at such venues as Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Cinémathèque Québécoise in Montreal, the National Film Theatre in London, and the Berlin International Film Festival. He is the staff accompanist for the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY and performs annually at several film festivals in the United States as well as at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Italy.
As one of the youngest in a rare art form, Brett Miller is an active organist, conductor, and arranger specializing in the art of silent film accompaniment. A finalist in the American Theatre Organ Society’s Young Organist Competition, Brett has continued his academic involvement and advocacy for the education and preservation of silent films through performance “live to picture.” In the Spring of 2021, he was appointed Music Director of the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a nonprofit based in Rochester, NY, that advocates for the education, performance, and production of film music. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the organization. Brett shares a close relationship between the ensemble and the Beal Institute of Film Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music.
Brett Miller
Ben Model
Ben Model is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theater organ. Ben works full-time presenting and accompanying silent films in a wide variety of venues and festivals nationally and internationally, carrying on a tradition he learned from silent film organist Lee Erwin (1919-2000).
Over the past four decades, Ben has created and performed thousands of live scores for several hundred silent films. Ben is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theatre, is a regular at festivals such as the TCM Classic Film Festival and the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and performs regularly at historic theaters, museums, schools, and other venues around the United States and internationally.
Raised in a musical family in Breesport, NY, David Peckham credits his parents with giving him a musical background. David began studying piano at age 8, then classical organ as a high school student with Albert Zabel in Elmira, NY. He went on to graduate from the University of Rochester, where he studied liberal arts and organ with David Craighead at the Eastman School of Music. Upon graduation, he returned home to join his family’s business, L.A. Peckham and Son Pipe Organ Service, and now cares for over 50 instruments across New York State and northern PA.
David has performed on nearly every major theater organ in the USA, and has also toured Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has played for several conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS), and was honored to be named “Organist of the Year” at the 2016 ATOS convention. David has served as organist and choir director at the First United Methodist Church in Horseheads, NY since 1985. He also serves as organ curator and resident organist at the Clemens Performing Arts Center in Elmira, NY.
David Peckham
