You can enjoy live musical accompaniment with silent films at this weekend’s Denver Silent Film Fest.

Denver Film is hosting its annual Denver Silent Film Festival September 27-29, 2024. The festival serves to honor the masterpieces made during the silent film era. Many of these films have been restored and therefore look more dynamic than ever on the big screen.

Part of the fun of seeing a silent film is the live musical performance that accompanies it. The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra will perform for two of the films at this year’s festival. The orchestra is a five-piece ensemble including Dawn Kramer on trumpet, Brian Collins on clarinet, David Short on cello, Britt Swenson on violin and Rodney Sauer on piano.

“I like the fact that we play in a small five-piece band. We don’t have a conductor. We all listen to each other. We all play this completely unknown music,” Sauer said.

As the action unfolds on screen, these musicians give the impression. One of the films they will accompany during the festival is “The Seahawk”, a 1924 film directed by Frank Loyd.

“This is actually only the second time we’ve done the music for ‘The Seahawk,'” Sauer explained. “A five-piece orchestra is very practical. You get a little brass, a little wood, the sound of an orchestra.”

It is an art form that could have disappeared with the evolution of the cinematographic sector.

“I think when talkies came along, most of that music was thrown out,” he said.

Preserving this piece of history has become a passion for Sauer. He built up a library of sheet music from as much music of this type as possible.

“It’s very well written. It’s well thought out. It’s moving,” he said.

It was also considered commercial at the time; and there wasn’t a lot of structure to the way it was produced.

“Each theater was responsible for its own music, so there wouldn’t really be any music to accompany the film,” Sauer told CBS News Colorado.

For a film like “The Seahawk,” Sauer compiled the music from existing music in his library. He carefully chose pieces that fit the mood and tenor of the film, so that in this swagger, when the betrayal develops, the audience feels it in every note.

“The public really likes it. It transforms cinema into a concert.”

Playing such dramatic music over the course of a two-hour film takes stamina, but these musicians call it a labor of love.

LINK: Denver Silent Film Festival

The Denver Silent Film Festival takes place September 27-29, 2024 at the Sie FilmCenter.