PORDENONE MASTERCLASSES

The Giornate Masterclasses in silent film accompaniment have today a world-wide reputation for their unique contribution to this very specialized field of music, and there are already plans to extend the idea to other centres. They are open to festival guests, who are discovering that the Masterclasses provide one of the best shows in town. In particular they offer new insights into film interpretation. The best film musicians, as we discover, require and develop a much deeper insight into the film’s content, psychology, and structure than the rest of us, and our musicians collaborate to impart something of this, in the course of the masterclass sessions, in a way that is illuminating even to the most sophisticated film scholars.
The first aim of the masterclasses is to refine and develop the technique of young artists embarking on film accompaniment, and we are always in search of likely candidates.

The Otto Plaschkes Gift
The residence of the Masterclass participants in Pordenone is supported by the Otto Plaschkes Gift. When the Austrian-born Otto Plaschkes, one of Britain’s most imaginative film producers, died in 2005, a group of his friends contributed to a fund to be donated to the Giornate in his memory. Otto’s passion – after film – was music, and he was particularly fascinated by the musical work of the Giornate, so it seemed appropriate to dedicate the Otto Plaschkes Gift to helping sustain the Masterclasses, with the enthusiastic collaboration of Otto’s widow, Louise Stein.

2017: Bryson Kemp & Richard Siedhoff
2016: John Best & Meg Morley
2015: Ilyess Bentayeb & Koenraad Spijk
2014: David Gray & Daan van den Hurk
2013: Lillian Henley & Anne Martje Lemereis
2012: Philip Brandford & Bruno Rattini
2011: Andreas Benz & Nicole Thomas Zyczynski
2010: Elaine Brennan, Judith Rosenberg & Yvo Verschoor
2009: Cyrus Gabrysch & Mie Yamashita
2008: Touve R. Ratovondrahety& Andrew Simpson
2007: Nakia Masumura & Roman Zavada
2006: Ian Lawrence Mistrorigo