Robert Israel

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Robert Israel (born April 30, 1963 in Los Angeles , California , USA) is an American silent film accompanist, organist, pianist and composer.

life and work

Israel began playing the piano at the age of 16. At the age of 17 he began to accompany silent films professionally. He was sponsored by the theater organist Gaylord Carter (1905–2000). In 1988 he graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in music.

He teaches as a guest at various film schools in Southern California and appears as a soloist and orchestra director in the USA, Japan and Europe, especially at film festivals. At the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences he was music director 13 times in a row.

Favorite instruments include theater and cinema organs such as the Wurlitzer organ in Barnum Hall in Santa Monica , the Plummer Auditorium Theater in Fullerton or the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles , as well as the NDR's Welte radio organ. But he also plays on large church and concert organs such as the Ascension Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks and the Royce Hall in Los Angeles or on the piano.

Compositions (selection)

In 2009 Israel's 1995 music version of Buster Keaton's classic "The General" was released on DVD. In 2011, Warner Archive Classics released Rex Ingrams “The Magician” (1926) on DVD with music by Robert Israel.

New symphonic accompanying music appeared for Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's “Phantom” (1922) and for Louis Feuillade's twelve-part “Judex” (1916). For Erich von Stroheim's “Greed” (1924), he reconstructed a new film score of almost four hours.

Over 20 new compositions were created for the films by Harold Lloyd .

Appearances

On June 8, 2011, Israel accompanied Fred Niblo's “The Mark Of Zorro” (1920) on the piano at a silent film evening in the pub “Das Heinz” in Vienna . Israel made another guest appearance on May 27, 2013 in the restaurant "Das Heinz" during a silent film evening with slapsticks.

At the turn of December 2013 / January 2014, the culture channel Arte broadcast the slapstick short films "Behind the Screen", "The Pawn Shop" and "The Adventurer", which Charles Chaplin shot for Mutual Co. in 1916 , on German television accompanied by the Robert Israel Orchestra from.

For Arte (Lobster Film) in 2013 he also contributed the music for a documentary about Chaplin with the original title La Naissance de Charlot .

Awards

literature

  • American Theater Organ Society (Ed.): Theater Organ. Journal of the American Theater Organ Society , Volume 49. American Theater Organ Society, 2007, p. 70.
  • Karl Heinz Dettke: Cinema organs and cinema music in Germany. (= Metzler music ). Metzler, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 978-3-476-01297-5 , pp. 332-333.
  • Karl Heinz Dettke, Thomas Klose, Taco Tiemersma: cinema and theater organs. An international overview. Tectum Verlag, Marburg / Lahn 2001, ISBN 978-3-8288-8265-2 , p. 14.
  • Gary Giddins: Natural Selection. Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music, and Books. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-0-19-517951-4 , p. 5.
  • Leonhard Gmür: Rex Ingram, Hollywood's Rebel of the Silver Screen. Verlag epubli, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8442-4601-8 , pp. 70, 72, 330 (English).
  • James W. Roman: Bigger Than Blockbusters. Movies that Defined America. Verlag ABC-CLIO, 2009, ISBN 978-0-313-33995-0 , p. 9 (English).
  • William Parrill: European silent films on video: a critical guide. Illustrated edition. McFarland & Co., 200, ISBN 978-0-7864-2494-8 , pp. 200, 231, 400 (English).
  • Jeffrey Vance: Chaplin, Genius of the Cinema. Illustrated edition. Harry N. Abrams Verlag, 2003, p. 398 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Sweet: Pianist Hears the Sound of Music in Silent Films (English). In: Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1990.
  2. ↑ Robert Israel at silentera.com (English).
  3. ↑ Biography on own homepage
  4. ↑ Alex Vejar: Barnum Hall is alive with the sound of music . In: Santa Monica Daily Express, April 25, 2013.
  5. ↑ Matt Hurwitz: He's the sound of silents (English). In: Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2004.
  6. ↑ Mirror Staff: Buster Keaton Films Highlight Theater Organ . In: Santa Monica Mirror, April 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ Mel Horan: Buster Keaton with Robert Israel on Pipe Organ (English): Double bill with Sherlock jr. (1924) and The Cook (1918).
  8. ↑ The Orange County Theater Organ Society: Event Schedule: “On June 20, 2010 Robert Israel accompanied 'The General'. A great time was had by all as Mr. Israel sure knows how to captivate an audience !! On June 24, 2007 at 2:30 PM at the beautiful Plummer Auditorium Robert Israel accompanied the full length movie 'Grandma's Boy' starring Harold Lloyd. Then he will accompany two short films: 'The Idle Class' starring Charlie Chaplin and a 'A rare silent cartoon'. ”(English).
  9. ^ John Koerber: Los Angeles Orpheum Theater Wurlitzer Style 240 Special (English). Robert Israel accompanied the silent films "Flesh and the Davil" on June 6, 2007, "Son of the Sheik" on June 22, 2003, Harold Lloyd's classic silent film "Girl shy" on July 3, 2003 and parts of the series "Last Remaining Seats “As part of The Los Angeles Conservancy's 2003.
  10. ↑ Thomas Koppermann: The WELTE radio organ in Studio 1 of the NDR .
  11. ↑ Organist plays to silent film presentation ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English): "The Phantom of the Opera". @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / m.theacorn.com
  12. ^ UCLA's Royce Hall January 13, 2001: Organist Robert Israel Accompanies 1924 Silent Film 'Sherlock Jr.' Starring Buster Keaton (English).
  13. ↑ David Stevens: As 'Silent' Films Are Revived, They Make New Music (English). In: The New York Times, November 10, 1993.
  14. ↑ As an alternative to that of Carl Davis , cf. Robert Israel in the Internet Movie Database , accessed June 27, 2014.
  15. ↑ See Paul Wegener on gabelingeber , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  16. ↑ See on other compositions by Israel for DVD editions by Abel Gances J'Accuse (I complain) (1919) and Boris Barnet's Miss Mend (1926) from Flicker Alley , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  17. ↑ Rick Schmidlin had brought the existing materials from "Greed" to the almost original length of 236 minutes with the help of stills in place of the missing parts, cf. James Steffen at tcm.com and Annika Stelter , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  18. ↑ See Why Worry 1923 , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  19. ↑ House film evening "The Mark of ZORRO" (1920) ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 2, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / roundtown.com
  20. ↑ "This year again Robert Israel gives us the honor of playing the piano. He is one of the most recognized silent film pianists who draws up to 2000 visitors to his evenings in his hometown of Los Angeles! ” , Cf. Silent film pianist Robert Israel in Vienna , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  21. ↑ cf. zdf.de: Behind the screen , The Pawn Shop and The Adventurer , accessed on March 2, 2016.
  22. ↑ German "Charles Chaplin, how it all began. A tramp conquers the world ”. FR © 2013 Steamboat Films / Lobster Films / Arte France. Musique: Robert Israel. See Antti Alanen La Naissance de Charlot , accessed March 2, 2016.
  23. ↑ Robert Israel homepage
personal data
SURNAME Israel, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles