Alloy Orchestra returns to the Ross Oct. 7

The Alloy Orchestra returns to the Ross on Oct. 7 to perform their original score for "VARIETÉ."
The Alloy Orchestra returns to the Ross on Oct. 7 to perform their original score for "VARIETÉ."

Alloy Orchestra returns to the Ross Oct. 7

calendar icon30 Sep 2016    

Lincoln, Neb.--The world renown Alloy Orchestra returns to The Ross on Friday, Oct. 7 to perform their original score with VARIETÉ.  Further details are available at www.TheRoss.org, by consulting your newspaper or by calling the MRRMAC film information line at (402) 472.5353.  This program is being presented with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
 
SYNOPSIS:  VARIETÉ
Germany / 1925/ 95 minutes / DCP & Blu-ray
A film by E.A. Dupont
Former trapeze artist "Boss" Huller leaves his wife and child to go to Berlin with the younger, seductive Berta-Marie. They become the lead attraction at Berlin's famed Wintergarten, where they perform as a trio with trapezist Artinelli. That is, until Huller realises that Berta-Marie is cheating on him with their fellow acrobat ... As a journalist for Germany's first tabloid newspaper, the "BZ", Dupont introduced the "variety shows and film" column in 1915 and his film is a celebration of the best of both. He steers the blatant curiosity that dancer Berta-Marie provokes towards artificiality. In Varieté, Karl Freund's "unleashed" camera also executes daring feats of flying acrobatics. The digital restoration was undertaken by the foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung, working with the Filmarchiv Austria, using nitrate prints from both the U.S. Library of Congress and the Filmarchiv Austria.
 
ALLOY ORCHESTRA
Called “the best in the world at accompanying silent films,” by Roger Ebert, the Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad, Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.  (For more information, please visit their website at www.alloyorchestra.com.)  An unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable. Utilizing their famous "rack of junk" and electronic synthesizers, the group generates beautiful music in a spectacular variety of styles. They can conjure up a French symphony or a simple German bar band of the 20's. The group can make the audience think it is being attacked by tigers, contacted by radio signals from Mars or swept up in the Russian Revolution.