Günter A. Buchwald

Musical Director of Slapstick Festival

European Silent Screen Virtuosi
Pianist & Violinist

With over 4 decades of experience in silent film accompaniment, Günter A. Buchwald is one of the world’s finest composers and musicians working in the field of silent film accompaniment.

Günter regularly plays at film festivals around the world in, for instance, Berlin, Bonn, Pordenone, Zurich, Munich and San Francisco.

Well versed in a range of musical styles, Günter can bring a wide variety to his unique brand of musical improvisation.

He plays the piano, violin, viola and cinema organ – and can often be heard playing more than one instrument at the same time!

He is also the artistic director of European Silent Screen Virtuosi.

Frank Martin Bockius

European Silent Screen Virtuosi

Double Bassist

Frank Bockius is a freelance musician and drums and percussion teacher.

He has been playing the drums since the age of 10. Jazz is one of his main musical styles, but he is also interested in Latin American percussion.

For many years he worked with his own bands which included the jazz quintet whisper hot and the percussion band TIMPANICKS.

Over 20 years ago, he was asked by Günter Buchwald to join his silent movie music company and they have worked together for many festivals and venues.

Romano Todesco

Double Bassist

Although usually seen playing double bass during Slapstick Festival, Romano Todesco can perform masterfully with a variety of instruments.

Todesco has had a lifelong career in music, starting from the age of 6 when he first learned to play the accordion.

He also composes and has been teaching music for over twenty years.

Todesco has performed at a wide variety of film festivals in Italy and the rest of Europe.

John Sweeney

pianist

John Sweeney has been composing for and accompanying silent film for nearly thirty years.

Originally from New Zealand, Sweeney now makes his home in London. In the UK, he has played for silent films at venues including Riverside Studio Cinemas, National Film Theatre, Nottingham Broadway and the Barbican Centre.

Internationally, John Sweeney has played Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, – Giornate Del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy and other festivals in Austria, Germany, Italy and Slovenia.

He has also worked extensively in modern dance and has composed music for choreographers such as Viola Farber, Sarah Fahie, and Andreja Rauch.

Stephen Horne

Pianist

Stephen Horne is considered on of the leading silent film accompanists. He has been house pianist at the BFI Southbank for more than thirty years.

He has appeared at most leading UK venues, and has performed internationally at festivals in Pordenone, Bologna, Telluride, San Francisco, Cannes, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Berlin.

Although usually seen on the piano, Horne also plays other instruments, often simultaneously.

Elizabeth-Jane Baldry

Harpist

Elizabeth-Jane Baldry has the distinction of being the only silent film harpist in the world.

She studied at Exeter University and the Royal College of Music and gives around eighty performances a year.

Her compositions have been used by ITV, the BBC, and by Irish, Japanese, Danish and Canadian film, television, and radio.

Elizabeth-Jane is also a filmmaker who directs and produces films based on British fairy tales.

She has performed accompanying silent films at the Barbican Centre, Giornate Del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Arnolfini and Watershed in Bristol, and at Central Michigan University in the U.S.A.

Official Website

Daan van den Hurk

Pianist

Daan van den Hurk is a concert pianist, composer, and silent film pianist. He studied jazz, classical and composition at the Utrecht Conservatory.

Daan enjoys focusing on newly written and unknown or forgotten pieces.

He performs solo, as a soloist with orchestras, and in duos or ensembles.

As a silent film pianist, Daan has played all over Europe, including Giornate Del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy.

Daan also teaches several lessons at the Utrecht Conservatory.

Official Website

Meg Morley

Pianist

Classically-trained, Melbourne-born London-based musician Meg Morley was awarded Distinctions by the Australian Music Examinations Board

She performed as a soloist with the, then, Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra and to have had her first ensemble composition performed by the internationally-acclaimed Darling Downs Trio.

Meg studied jazz improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts while she was a pianist with the Australian Ballet before moving to London, in 2010.

she has worked with various international dance companies (Matthew Bourne, Pina Bausch, English National Ballet, Rambert Company, Alvin Ailey ADT).

Since performing her first improvised score for silent film in 2016, Meg has played and scored numerous other silent films.

Meg has regularly played at various international film festivals and she is the house pianist for the British Film Institute (at Southbank).

With her band the Meg Morley Trio she has released several albums to critical acclaim.

Videos of our musicians

Daan van den Hurk
Elizabeth-Jane Baldry

Stephen Horne
John Sweeney
Günter A. Buchwald
Frank Martin Bockius
Romano Todesco
Meg Morley