Music with a Movie Camera by the Helix Collective is back by popular demand. The 10-piece film-music ensemble performs original soundtracks from the 1920-80s by composers from countries which formerly comprised the Soviet Union. The concert returns to Fiesta Hall at Plummer Park, 1166 N Vista St, on Sunday, May 7, 2023, starting at 1pm. Admission and parking is free.
The program presents music from iconic films including “It’s a Wonderful Life” with a score by Dimitri Tiomkin, “Man with a Movie Camera,” one of the earliest depictions of the cities of Ukraine on film, “The Gadfly” with music by Dimitri Shostakovich, “The Cranes are Flying,” and “The Snowstorm.” Film highlights will accompany the original soundtracks, songs, and the most striking musical moments from the films.
This program is supported in part by an arts grant from the City of West Hollywood. The concert is co-sponsored by the City of West Hollywood and the Russian-speaking Advisory Board.
The event will honor veterans of WWII and Victory in Europe Day. 2023 is the 78th anniversary of the Victory in Europe over the Nazi regime. The Russian-speaking Advisory Board supports and continues the celebration of local’s parents’, grandparents’, and great grandparents’ role in WWII and re-confirmation of their status as family heroes no matter their military or civil defense rank, or whether they survived, which has always had an educational impact on the community and younger generations.
Helix Collective will perform Moishe Vaynberg’s music from The Cranes are Flying. Georgy Sviridov’s “Time Forward,” used as a news theme in the 1980s, and “Troika” from The Snowstorm. The silent film Man with a Movie Camera will be accompanied by music by Kiev native composing in the city at the time of the film’s release, Reinhold Gliére.
Additional songs include “Pjat Minute” by Anatoli Lepin from the movie Carnival Night. “Apple” from Romas are Found Near Heaven by Evgeny Doga, Alexander Zatsepin’s “January Snow is Ringing” from Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession, and Evgeny Krylatov’s song from The Enchanters, “Three White Horses.”
About Helix Collective
Helix Collective are classical musicians busting out of the traditional mold. From crossover dance music, to storytelling, to film, television, and video game music, the Los Angeles-based ensemble takes the best of classical chamber music and makes it the life of the party.
Variety Magazine praised Helix Collective’s musical range moving from “moody urgency and edgy chamber-music sound” to the “sweetly romantic evoking wide-open spaces.”
Helix “has a little something for everyone: those who like their classics straight up, with a contemporary edge to it, or with populist appeal.” Called “dizzyingly virtuosic with exquisite musicianship and world-class range” by The Free Times and praised for “beyond-the-ordinary programming.”
Like the double helix, the ensemble is rearrangeable, flexible, and fuses the DNA of classical music into worlds where it’s never gone before.
Helix Collective’s Film Music Ensemble
Helix Collective founded the L.A. Live Score Film Festival in 2012, a live soundtrack film festival that pairs film composers and indie filmmakers. Helix has collaborated with film, t.v., and video game composers Michael Abels (Get Out, Us), Jeff Russo (Fargo), George S. Clinton (Mortal Kombat), Layla Minoui (Vamparina), Jeff Cardoni (Silicon Valley), Eimear Noone (Video Games Live), Jeff Beal (House of Cards), Julia Newman (BONES), Laura Karpman (Lovecraft Country) and many more.
