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 John 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!