In the intimate setting of ASI’s historic Ballroom, musical artists Jackie Beckey and Jonathan Kaiser perform an original live score for the 1921 Swedish silent film classic, The Phantom Carriage. Beckey (viola) and Kaiser (cello) use amplifiers and electronics with their instruments to create a hybrid style of chamber music that combines hypnotic repetition, noisy texture, and lyrical melody.  With influences ranging from folk tunes to experimental sound, their lush score to The Phantom Carriage brings this silent film alive for a contemporary audience.

An influential classic of Swedish cinema, The Phantom Carriage is a haunting Dickensian ghost story directed by Victor Sjöström. Based on a novel by Nobel LaureateSelma Lagerlöf, the film is known for its innovative special effects and sophisticated narrative devices that were ahead of its time.

Beckey and Kaiser’s collaborations have coalesced around a shared interest in live music for cinema. Their work with the bands Brute Heart, Myrrh, and Dark Dark Dark has drawn attention from the independent music world.  The composers’ debut partnership was a live score to The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari for the Walker Art Center. Recent projects include live scores to D.W. Griffith’s A Corner in Wheat at The Poor Farm (Wisc.) and Kaiser’s Flat Land Speed at the Empire Drive-In Film Festival (New York).

Beckey and Kaiser were part of a curated ensemble that contributed sound recordings and a performance to the 2013 Minnesota Biennial at the Soap Factory and to the 2014 Temporary Autonomous Museum of Contemporary Art show in Minneapolis. Beckey's composition work was supported by a 2014 grant from the Jerome Foundation and Kaiser's installation Inverse Echo was recently exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. 101 min.

Cost: $12 ASI members/$15 general public. Includes museum admission.

Registration is recommended.