Berklee Silent Film Orchestra in New York Debut with Harold Lloyd's The Freshman

On Saturday, May 20, the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra makes its New York debut with a new score for Harold Lloyd's classic silent comedy The Freshman (1925). The setting will be the magnificent Tony Bennett Concert Hall, at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (FSSA), in Astoria. A collaboration between Berklee, FSSA, Amp Up NYC®, and the Museum of the Moving Image, the film concert is a benefit for the Frank Sinatra School.   

One of the first 50 films chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress, The Freshman is one of comic genius Harold Lloyd’s most successful and enduring films. The May 20 film concert will be the first New York showing of The Freshman, with live, large ensemble score in more than a decade. The 7:00 p.m. live concert/film screening will be preceded by a rehearsal, open to the public at 4:00 p.m., which will offer insight on the painstaking work that goes into performing a new silent film score live to-picture.

The Berklee Silent Film Orchestra (BSFO), veterans of Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and Boston’s Symphony Hall, and two-time recipients of the Boston Society of Film Critics' Award of Merit, will perform their new score for this pioneering romantic comedy in an unforgettable, live-to-picture experience. 

Recent praise for the BSFO:  “…nothing short of thrilling. When the film concluded, over 1,000 people leapt to their feet, cheering. I can’t wait to hear the orchestra again.”  —Leonard Maltin (Maltin on Movies, Entertainment Tonight) on the BSFO's performance at the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival

“For 73 minutes, the world was wonderful.” — Delighted patron, following the BSFO’s performance of Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last!