VERY unique performance at Omaha Performing Arts…...

GUESS what very unique show Omaha Performing Arts is presenting! ??

It’s a rare chance to hear the original Wurlitzer at the Orpheum Theater, let alone hear it played accompanying a classic silent film.

On October 22 at 7pm, at the Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., The Phantom of the Opera: Halloween Organ and Film featuring organist Clark Wilson will be seen!  Tickets are only $15 a piece and you can purchase them at  http://www.ticketomaha.com/productions/Phantom-of-the-Opera

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HERE IS THE PRESS RELEASE AND ORGANIST BIO!

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA TO BE SCREENED OCTOBER 22 WITH LIVE MUSIC ACCOMPANIMENT 

Acclaimed Organist Clark Wilson To Perform At Orpheum Theater Screening 

Omaha, Neb., (September 16, 2014) – Omaha Performing Arts presents The Phantom of the Opera: Halloween Organ and Film featuring organist Clark Wilson at the Orpheum Theater on Wednesday, October 22, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are available at TicketOmaha.com, 402.345.0606 or at the Ticket Omaha Office inside the Holland Center, 1200 Douglas St. The performance is presented in conjunction with the River City Theatre Organ Society. 

Channeling the 1920s experience, this special production of the classic horror film, The Phantom of the Opera, makes for the perfect Halloween festivity. Complimented by the Mighty Wurlitzer organ, the silent movie stars Lon Chaney as the deformed Phantom haunting the Paris Opera House. 

Wilson is one of the most prominent and recognized scorers of silent photoplays in America. He works exclusively with the organ in developing accurate and historic musical accompaniments as they were performed in major picture palaces during the heyday of the silent film. The musical style of the time remains intact; no attempt is made to distract from the picture by using themes or styles that entered the musical scene years later. Most important of all, the film remains the focus and star of the performance. 

Wilson began his scoring career in 1980 and has successfully toured North America with hundreds of film presentations at schools and universities, performing arts centers, theatres, film festivals, and conventions. He has been organ conservator and resident organist at the Ohio Theatre for the Columbus Associate for the Performing Arts since 1992 and is responsible for all music during the annual classic movie series. He has led courses in theatre organ styling and silent film accompaniment at the Indiana University School of Music, and he is involved in the development of a similar degreed program at the University of Oklahoma. Wilson was named the American Theatre 

Organ Society’s Organist of the Year award in 1998 and was awarded the ATOS Technician of Merit Award, the only person to receive both ATOS distinctions. 

The Phantom of the Opera: Halloween Organ and Film featuring organist Clark Wilson will be at the Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St., on October 22 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are available at TicketOmaha.com, 402.345.0606 or at the Ticket Omaha Office inside the Holland Center. 

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ABOUT OMAHA PERFORMING ARTS 

Omaha Performing Arts is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to enriching the lives of the citizens of Omaha and surrounding communities. In its two venues: the Orpheum Theater and Holland Performing Arts Center, the organization presents the best of Broadway, jazz, blues, dance, comedy, family and popular entertainment. Omaha Performing Arts also offers a range of educational programs and free community events that support, enhance and expand appreciation for the arts. In addition, the organization provides comprehensive ticketing services through Ticket Omaha, the official ticket retailer for the Orpheum and Holland. Omaha Performing Arts’ performances are supported in part by the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Cultural Endowment, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Omaha and the Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund, as well as corporate sponsors, private donors and foundations. For more information, visit OmahaPerformingArts.org 

CLARK WILSON – silent film organist

Clark Wilson is one of the most prominent and recognized scorers of silent photoplays in America today. He works exclusively with the Organ in developing accurate and historic musical accompaniments as they were performed in major picture palaces during the heyday of the silent film.

Clark was personally influenced by, and subsequently became close friends with Chicago area organist John Muri, who was an original master of picture accompaniment and practiced his art well into the 1980s. His (and Wilson’s) historic style was that of utilizing fine music as a basis for developing a score of musical value. If the original score is no longer extant, a new one is prepared from the organist’s library and is normally transferred to a cue sheet – somewhat of a “road map” of suggested themes and notated screen actions which keep the organist fully on course. The development of themes in serious pictures is obtained exclusively in this way, and it must be considered the truest way to properly underscore screen action. Nothing is left to chance and wholesale improvisation is not relied upon. Further, the musical style of the time remains intact; no attempt is made to distract from the picture by using themes or styles that entered the musical scene years later. Most important of all, the film remains the focus and star of the performance.

Wilson began his scoring career in 1980 and has successfully toured North America with hundreds of film presentations at schools and universities, performing arts centers, theatres, film festivals, and conventions. His work has led to performances for UCLA, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where, in addition to other pictures, he has repremiered “Wings” for Paramount Studios’ 100^th Anniversary, the Chautauqua Institution, Cinequest and San Francisco film festivals, the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Packard Foundation’s Stanford Theatre film series, the Atlanta premier of the restored “Metropolis”, and annual presentations at the Atlanta Fox Theatre and for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Society at the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ. He is the organist of choice for many of the American Theatre Organ Society’s international convention silent film presentations, and he has scored pictures for Kino International for public DVD release. His performances have received the highest marks from colleagues and professionals, one commenting that his was “the finest use of a theatre pipe organ that I have ever heard”.

Clark has been organ conservator and Resident Organist at the Ohio Theatre for the Columbus Associate for the Performing Arts since 1992 and is responsible for all music during the annual classic movie series, which also features one or more major silent films each season. In addition, he has led courses in theatre organ styling and silent film accompaniment at the Indiana University School of Music, and he is heavily involved in the development of a similar degreed program at the University of Oklahoma, the first such program to exist since 1929. In addition to several articles published in Theatre Organ magazine, he has recently authored an article on film scoring for The American Organist magazine, periodical of the American Guild of Organists.

Wilson has been named in numerous Who’s Who and Men of Achievement editions and was presented with the ATOS Organist of the Year award in 1998. An acclaimed organ technician and consultant, he has also been professionally involved with over 200 pipe organ installations to date and has earned the ATOS Technician of Merit award, the only person to receive both ATOS distinctions.