Silent movie 'The General' to be accompanied by live music Mar. 24

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Buster Keaton's 1925 classic silent film "The General" will be accompanied by live music March 24 at the Majestic Theater.

The 8 p.m. showing will take place in Cinema 1 at the Majestic Theater located along Carlisle Street. The silent movie will feature a "soundtrack" of 19th century marches, ballads, parlor songs, reels and jigs to mirror the mood and action of the film, using tunes such as "Richmond's a Hard Road to Travel," "Beautiful Dreamer," "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Monkey Musk." Hesperus is quartet composed of Tina Chancey, Ruth Cunningham, Grant Herreid and Rosa Lamoreuax. This event is part of Gettysburg College's Sunderman Chamber Music Series. The performance is $10 for general admission. Tickets are available at 717.337.8200 or www.gettysburgmajestic.org.

Chancey is a founding member and director of Hesperus. She is a former member of the rock band Blackmore's Night, Folger Consort, Ensemble for Early Music and New York Renaissance Band. A multi-instrumentalist specializing in early bowed strings from the rebec and vielle to the kamenj, viol and lyra, Chancey has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to support debut performances on the pardessus de viole at the Kennedy Center and Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Cunningham is a classically trained musician in voice and historical flutes and a sound-healing practitioner. She specializes in improvisational sacred music from varied spiritual traditions in both in liturgical and concert settings. For ten years Cunningham was a member of the acclaimed vocal quartet Anonymous 4, making ten recordings and touring the United States, Europe and Far East. She will be rejoining Anonymous 4 this season.

Herreid is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who performs frequently on winds, strings and voice with Hesperus and Piffaro, and plays the obo and lute with the baroque ensemble Artek. He also teaches at Mannes College of Music and directs the New York Continuo Collective. Grant has created and directed several theatrical early music shows, including "Il Caffe d'Amore," a pastiche of early 17th century Italian songs and arias.

Lamoreaux is a soprano and has been a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony and Cincinnati Symphony with Robert Shaw in performances of the "B minor Mass" of Bach and Mozart's "Mass in C minor." Recent performances include Shostakovich's 14th symphony with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Bach's "St. John Passion" at the Washington National Cathedral, Barber's "Knoxville Summer of 1915" with the National Philharmonic orchestra, an evening of French Cabaret music to highlight the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the National Gallery of Art and concerts in Italy with the Carmel Bach Festival Chamber Musicians. She is also the artistic director of the National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble.

The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College combines Gettysburg's superb music tradition and its strengths as one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges. Established in 2005 through a $15.7 million gift from 1919 graduate Dr. F. William Sunderman Sr., the conservatory offers three degrees -- bachelor of music in performance, bachelor of arts in music, and bachelor of science in music education -- as well as a minor in music.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with approximately 2,600 students. It is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.

By: Justin Brower, class of 2010

Contact: Kendra Martin, director of media relations