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World Premiere: The Great Dictator Restored Score in Rome


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We are delighted to announce that THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940), Chaplin’s visionary satire that marked history, will be presented for the first time with live orchestral accompaniment on June 23rd at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s outdoor summer venue, the ancient Roman ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, located in central Rome. For this world premiere, Timothy Brock will conduct the Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma’s performance of his new painstaking restoration of the original score, commissioned by the Chaplin Office. Brock previously restored twelve other Chaplin film scores.

Composed by Chaplin himself with musical associate Meredith Willson, the score not only features Chaplin’s signature musical style, but also the unforgettable music of Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Willson remarked, “I have never met a man who devoted himself so completely to the ideal of perfection as Charlie Chaplin. […] I was constantly amazed at his attention to details, his feeling for the exact musical phrase or tempo to express the mood he wanted… Always he is seeking to ferret out every false note however minor from film or music”.

THE GREAT DICTATOR was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Original Score in 1941.

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Brock will also conduct a live-to-film concert of THE GREAT DICTATOR at the Ravenna Festival on July 21st, thanks to agent MAMUSIC.

For a film concert near you, see our regularly-updated list of screenings with live orchestra for more dates and different film titles in other countries.


Toulouse Cinémathèque Pays Homage to Chaplin


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The Cinémathèque de Toulouse is celebrating Charlie Chaplin with a retrospective from January 4 to February 16, 2022.

Full programme on La Cinémathèque de Toulouse’s website.

On Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June 2022, the Cinémathèque de Toulouse is also organizing live-to-film concerts of The Circus at L’Escale in Tournefeuille, where the film will be accompanied live by the Orchestre Symphonique de l’École d’Enseignements Artistiques de Tournefeuille playing Chaplin’s score, conducted by Claude Puysségur. More details here.


Take a tour of Chaplin Studios!


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THE CHAPLIN STUDIO TOUR
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2021, 12:00 noon PST

Between 1918 and 1952, Charlie Chaplin made films at his studio at Sunset Blvd. and La Brea in Hollywood. Masterpieces like The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times—all made on this site! In 1952, on his way to the UK for the premiere of Limelight, Chaplin, a lifelong British subject, got word that his US re-entry permit had been rescinded. Chaplin became a victim of scurrilous Senator Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare—the FBI branding him as one of ‘Hollywood’s parlor Bolsheviks’—along with other great artists of the time. Chaplin settled in Switzerland where he lived until his death in 1977, returning to the US only once—in 1972 when he accepted an honorary award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On Sunday, February 7, 2021—the 107th anniversary of the debut of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character—Kate Guyonvarch, managing director of the Chaplin Office in Paris, will narrate the Chaplin Studio Tour, footage of the abandoned studio shot circa 1953. Recently restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in collaboration with the Chaplin Office/Roy Export S.A.S. and Lobster Films, the film shows Chaplin’s cameraman Rollie Totheroh escorting Kathryn Reed (the future wife of Robert Altman) around the studio.

Register now for this FREE online event with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.


Online discussion : Charlie Chaplin and the Story of Care


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On Thursday, February 4th, 6pm UK time, you can join Carol Homden, Group Chief Executive of the children’s charity Coram, Kate Guyonvarch of the Chaplin Office and British Film Institute expert Bryony Dixon for an online discussion on Chaplin and the history of care to support Coram. The event will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of THE KID, one of Chaplin’s most personal films, resonating his own childhood experiences.

Book tickets here. Proceeds will go to Coram.


Chaplin Festival in Milan


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Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, Italy presents the Charlie Chaplin Festival, featuring six Chaplin films with live orchestral accompaniment at Teatro Dal Verme from 16 February to 24 May 2020.

16 Feb - Modern Times conducted by Timothy Brock
15 Mar - The Gold Rush conducted by Helmut Imig
05 Apr - City Lights conducted by Frank Strobel
26 Apr - The Circus conducted by Adrian Prabava
24 May - A Dog’s Life conducted by Adrian Prabava
24 May - Shoulder Arms conducted by Adrian Prabava

Tickets available on Teatro Dal Verme’s website.