alloy orchestra

"The best in the world at accompanying silent film."  --Roger Ebert

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 U.S. and abroad (The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center), Alloy has emerged as possibly the best and best known silent film accompanists in the world.

The 2004 Ozark Foothills FilmFest will feature two performances by Alloy Orchestra at Batesville's historic Melba Theater. Alloy will perform their most recent score, for the Buster Keaton classic THE GENERAL, on Saturday, March 27. On Sunday, March 28, they will perform a second original composition to accompany the 1919 British documentary SOUTH: ERNEST SHACKLETON AND THE ENDURANCE EXPEDITION. The festival is honored to host Alloy's first-ever Arkansas appearance.

An unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives Alloy 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 an entire symphony or a simple German bar band of the 20's. The group can make the audience think it is being contacted by radio signals from Mars or swept up in the Russian Revolution. This multimedia experience lends silent films a power and excitement that hasn't been seen since the arrival of talkies.

While their unusual instrumentation attracts attention, it is their unique sensitivity to the films themselves that makes Alloy performances so emotionally satisfying.

Now in their 12th year, Alloy began their aural onslaught with their original score for METROPOLIS in 1991. For each of the last 9 years, the group has composed a new score and premiered it at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival.

Alloy collaborates with archives and collectors such as the Film Preservation Associates, The Rohauer Collection, and George Eastman House, to present extraordinarily beautiful prints of some of the greatest films of the 20th century.

In addition to their work with silents, Alloy Orchestra has contributed soundtracks to commercial videos for IBM, UPS, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the National Park Service and other projects. Their work has been featured in contemporary films and videos by directors Errol Morris (FAST, CHEAP AND OUT OF CONTROL), Jane Gillooly (DRAGONFLIES, THE BABY CRIES), Ben Meade (VAKVAGNY) and others.