
John Lenehan has a long standing fascination with silent movies and particularly the effective use of live music alongside film. In 1989 he established "Sounds for Silents" a chamber group which had great success performing at major festivals in the UK, Ireland, Norway, Italy and Australia. Their repertoire included several feature-length films such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Nosferatu" and "Berlin - Symphony of a City." More recently he has explored the tradition of improvising as a solo pianist and has presented varied programmes with shorter films and extremely varied musical content. His latest programme "The Roaring Twenties" takes us on a journey through the decade, highlighting the many technological advances that changed lives and introducing on film a host of famous personalities - Henry Ford, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Albert Einstein, Harry Houdini, Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh as well as the famous movie stars - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Greta Garbo, Harold Lloyd and even Mickey Mouse. Music includes hit songs from Irving Berlin, George Gershwin (including a complete performance of Rhapsody in Blue), Vaudeville and improvisation. Fascinating and huge fun!