The Estey Organ Museum will host an “Organ Spooktacular with the Phantom” on Friday, October 30, at 7:00 PM at the First Baptist Church, 190 Main Street, Brattleboro. The event will feature two shortened silent films, “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Nosferatu”. The “Phantom” features Lon Chaney, and “Nosferatu” includes Max Schreck in the lead roles. Both will receive appropriate accompaniment on the church’s Estey pipe organ.
In addition there will be live performances of songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “The Phantom of the Opera” as well as appropriate spooky music played on the organ.
Organist for the event will be Mark Andersen from Lumberton, NC. Mark began his education at East Carolina University in North Carolina where he studied organ, harp, voice and carillon. His graduate studies carried him to Chicago and the American Conservatory and then on to a full scholarship at the Paris Conservatory where he studied organ with Marcel Dupre and composition with Nadia Boulanger.
Mark served as one of four assistant organists to Notre Dame Cathedral under Pierre Cochereau while in Paris. Returning to the United States, Mark became organist for the Boston Symphony and Artist in Residence to the John Hayes Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, MA where he played weekly concerts on the largest residence pipe organ in the world. PBS TV did an hour special on Mark and the Castle in 1995.
Mark is known both as a classical organist, and as a theatre organist, having presented numerous concerts in both genres, most recently giving a performance on a Wurlitzer theater organ restored by the Garden State Theater Organ Society in Rahway, NJ.
The Estey pipe organ in the church was built in 1906, and is a wonderful example of the so-called symphonic style of pipe organs popular at the time. What is sometimes forgotten is that “silent” films were never intended to be silent, but normally featured accompanying music provided by a pianist, organist, or even a full orchestra. Many of the films had musical scores specially composed for them to accompany the action.
This event is a fund-raising event for the Estey Organ Museum, with a suggested donation of $15 at the door. The First Baptist Church is handicapped accessible. For more information, phone 802-246-8366.
