Press Release
3 November 2017
MAIDEN VOYAGE FOR NEW BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN SOUNDTRACK
A new soundtrack for the classic 1925 Soviet film Battleship Potemkin is to receive its world premiere in the Howard Assembly Room at Opera North on Saturday 18 November.
Commissioned by Opera North Projectsto mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the score is written and performed by Norwegian producer, composer and electronic musician Jan Bang– the linchpin of Opera North’s Humber Bridge sound walk earlier this year – and Matt Calvert of London avant-rockers Three Trapped Tigers.
Battleship Potemkin is an account of the 1905 naval mutiny during which the crew of a Russian Imperial Navy vessel rose up against their officers. Although it was commissioned as a propaganda vehicle to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the unrest, the film became a testbed for director Sergei Eisenstein’s groundbreaking montage techniques, achieved with quick, rhythmic cutting between shots to tell a story or provoke a reaction from the audience.
Almost a century on,Battleship Potemkinstill makes fora mesmerising watch, and is regularly voted the greatest film of all time by critics and directors. The famous sequence featuring a pram bouncing down the Odessa Steps has been quoted in countless other films including Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and Brian De Palma's The Untouchables.Recognising the potential of image and sound combined, Eisenstein himself hoped that the score would be rewritten every twenty years to renew the film’s power for subsequent generations.
Jan and Matt’s collaboration, for guitars, electronics and found sounds, acknowledges the period and setting of the film with grainy timbres, mechanical clanks and trailing echoes, butwith its surging, visceral electronics and live manipulation it is also resolutely contemporary, finding new ways to heighten the impact of Eisenstein’s iconic visuals.
Musician and producer Matt Calvert comments:
“I think our approach has prioritised sound and texture over melodies and harmony, almost as if to blur foley and music at times. Rather than approach each scene with a particular musical ‘script’ in mind, we have tried to devise a series of suitable ‘worlds’ which we can explore with improvisation, to keep some freshness and excitement, and to emphasise the sense of tension in the film.
“I’m happy to challenge myself and adapt my process to Jan’s, which I’ve long been a fan of: feeding him sonic material to sample, working more with a sense of momentum than fixed pulses and finding the beauty in combinations of sound as much as in melodies.”
Jan Bang, producer and musician, comments:
“We haven’t scored the film in the traditional sense; our soundtrack is based on the idea of improvisation, and remaining open to all of the possibilities that the different scenes have to offer. Matt has been an exceptionally generous collaborator, and developing the score together – without any artistic limitations – has been a true joy. Hopefully some of that energy will transfer to the audience when we perform it.”
Dominic Gray, Projects Director, Opera North, comments:
“Over recent years we’ve hosted some amazing live scores for iconic films in the HAR – from Murnau’s Sunrise with Joanna Macgregor, to La Haine with music by Asian Dub Foundation. For Potemkin we wanted to commission something new; a vibrant, contemporary response to one of the great classics of all time. Collaboration is key to Jan and Matt’s practice, and they have a real feel for what works musically, dramatically and cinematically. It’s a short film, just 75 minutes, but packed with detail, character and story, which the musicians respond to with sensitivity and imagination.”
Earlier this year Jan was the lead collaborator on The Height of the Reeds, Opera North’s commission for Hull UK City of Culture 2017. A sound walk for the Humber Bridge that wove the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North together with trumpeter Arve Henriksen, guitarist Eivind Aarset and the music of the bridge itself, The Height of the Reeds was a critical and popular success, with every slot sold out over its three month duration.
Jan Bang and Matt Calvertperform their new soundtrack for Battleship Potemkinat the Howard Assembly Room at Opera North, Leeds on Saturday 18 November. Tickets are priced at £15.00 (concessions available), and can be booked by contacting Box Office on 0844 848 2727., or visiting howardassemblyroom.co.uk
/ENDS
Listing
FILMusic
Saturday 18 November, 7.45pm
Battleship Potemkin with live score
Sergei Eisenstein, USSR, 1925, 75 minutes, Cert PG
The world premiere of a new soundtrack for Eisenstein’s 1925 Soviet classic, a cornerstone of cinema. Commissioned by Opera North, Norwegian electronic musician and producer Jan Bang and Matt Calvert of Three Trapped Tigers perform a score to match the intense, iconic scenes on screen.
Howard Assembly Room, 46 New Briggate, Leeds LS1 6NU
Tickets: £15
Box Office: 0844 848 2727
Online: howardassemblyroom.co.uk
Commissioned and produced by Opera North
For further information, images or tickets, please contact:
Rowland Thomas, Press Officer |0113 213 3528 |
Elizabeth Simmonds, Press Officer | 0113 213 5641|
Julia O’Sullivan, Head of Communications|0113 223 3526 | 07956 647573 julia.o’
Notes to Editors:
Opera North
Opera North is England’s national opera company in the North and one of Europe’s leading arts organisations.Opera North is a vibrant, lively organisation which actively challenges conventional perceptions of opera. Breathing new life into the classics, the Company is also a strong advocate of lesser-known works and a champion of musical theatre.
Opera North Projects
The work of Opera North Projects crosses conventional boundaries, bringing classical and contemporary arts together in an eclectic year-round programme of performance, visual arts commissions, literary events and artistic development. Projects take apart the elements of opera: words, music, visual arts and theatre, and put them back together in new ways.
Opera North Projects produces small-scale touring shows, site specific performance and commissions, together with a rolling programme of artistic residencies. ‘Home’ is the beautifully restored Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, a captivating and flexible performance space whose public programme is curated by the Projects Department.
Work often has an emphasis on collaboration, with recent partners including The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Manchester International Festival, Kneehigh Theatre, The Opera Group and The Yorkshire Sculpture Park.