May 19, 3:00PM
New music for silent film: The Wind (Victor Seastrom, 1928)
McEvoy Auditorium, Smithsonian American Art Museum
(Jointly presented with the National Portrait Gallery)

I will present the piano version of my 2012 choral/instrumental score for this powerful drama starring Lillian Gish. The score premiered at AFI Silver Theater in summer 2012 with Cantate Chamber Singers, to critical acclaim (URL of Post review)
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June 6-8
Mostly Lost, Library of Congress symposium featuring screenings of unidentified films and public screenings of featured silents with live accompaniment
Library of Congress Packard Campus and the State Theatre, Culpeper, VA

June 27-30
Slapsticon 2013
This important four-day film festival returns after a years' hiatus at my alma mater, Indiana University Bloomington.
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 Go to 2012-2013 Season Calendar

• Smithsonian American Art Museum presents Simpson's score for THE WIND

  Read an interview from the Smithsoanian blog Eye Level  Link

• Simpson's oratorio "A Crown of Stars"
  featured in Chorus America

  In June 2012, Cantate Chamber Singers of the Washington DC metro area, premiered a new work for chorus and small orchestra to accompany the 1928 silent film, "The Wind," starring a young Lillian Gish...  Read more

• New piano score for a 1928 Soviet film, THE YELLOW TICKET

  In October, he is thrilled to be returning to Pordenone, site of the Giornate del Cinema Muto, among the world's foremost film festivals, and will be performing a new piano score for a 1928 Soviet film, THE YELLOW TICKET, as a returning guest artist. More details on the Calendar. He'll also be taking students from his Silent Film Music class to attend part of the Giornate.

• New silent film piano scores for The Mack Sennett Collection

  Simpson is creating and recording new silent film piano scores for The Mack Sennett Collection, a major set of restored silent comedies, forthcoming early 2013!

• European premiere of The Golden Prophecy

  Saxophonist Noah Getz (of Pictures on Silence) performed Simpson's The Golden Prophecy in concert at the Center for the Arts, Wolzstyn, Poland on August 14.

• Simpson silent film scores to air on TCM in September

  Turner Classic Movies features a Spotlight on Mack Sennett, the "King of Comedy," on Thursday evenings in September. A major new DVD release, The Mack Sennett Collection, is coming out soon, and TCM is airing some of the films this month. I have created some scores along with many other fine composers as part of this massive and important set.
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• DC Theatre Scene.com makes The Outcasts of Poker Flat a "Pick of the Fringe" Festival, with 5 stars!

  The Outcasts of Poker Flat may be the best Wild West opera you’ll ever see. It may also be the only one you’ll ever see, but that only underscores this rollicking, emotional production as an essential Fringe stop. Outcasts follows a gang of bitter exiles from the town of Poker Flat, including a seasoned gambler, two prostitutes, and an inveterate alcoholic. The band soon meets an idealistic prospector and his fiancée, and an uneasy alliance forms as the travelers gird themselves against an unexpected winter onslaught on the open plains...
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• Outcasts of Poker Flat is acclaimed by "DC Metro Theater Arts"

  At last year’s Page-To-Stage I was introduced to some of the songs/arias that composer/librettist Dr. Andrew Earle Simpson had composed for his adaptation of Bret Harte’s 1869 short story The Outcasts of Poker Flat. I have known Dr. Simpson’s work composing theatre scores for silent films and by his work at Catholic University where he teaches, butthis was the first time I had heard an opera composed by him. I instantly fell in love with the score from The Outcasts of Poker Flat...
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• Albany Records releases Simpson's wedding oratorio
  "A Crown of Stars"

  The 45-minute oratorio, premiered by Cantate Chamber Singers, is paired with Alfred Schnittke's Requiem.
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• Washington Post acclaims review of Simpson's silent film score for THE WIND

  New score for silent movie ‘The Wind’: A splendid match of music, image. By Joan Reinthaler, Published: June 10
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• Promo video for June 9's THE WIND

  Washington Examiner reports on upcoming June 9 premiere of Simpson's new choral/instrumental silent film score for THE WIND
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• Washington Examiner reports on upcoming June 9 premiere of Simpson's new choral/instrumental silent film score for THE WIND

  His latest accomplishment is an original score for "The Wind," a classic silent film starring Lillian Gish presented Saturday at the American Film Institute. The world premiere commission from the Cantate Chamber Singers incorporates a chorus of 30 singers, an instrumental ensemble and Simpson at the organ...
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• American Record Guide praises Simpson's Too Many Mammas on Naxos

  The other three works [on the disc] were written to accompany silent films, each lasting around 9 minutes. The best is Andrew Earle Simpson's Too Many Mammas written in a hotsy-totsy jazz style to set the scene in a speakeasy where philandering is on tap along with the booze. The pit-band that accompanies the three scores [The Snark Ensemble] is a jazz quintet, and they're terrific. -Philip Greenfield, American Record Guide, Jan./Feb. 2012
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• Simpson as pianist praised in American Record Guide review of Still Life on Albany

  …Simpson has the awareness and fortitude to make an audience pay attention. He has a naturally fluid technique, and he coaxes an array of colors from the piano, from ear-splitting thunderclaps to tender murmurs. …Simpson relishes passages of intense emotion...
  -Patrick Hanudel, American Record Guide, Nov./Dec. 2011
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• Summer-Night Songs appears on debut recording of Pictures on Silence

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• Simpson's Golden Prophecy released on new Albany CD (Noah Getz, saxophone).

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• Simpson's new opera earns critical praise in MD Theatre Guide

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• Simpson honored with 2011 Provost's Award for Achievement in the Creative Arts at Catholic University.

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• Washington Post praises Simpson's Crown of Stars at a recent performance.

   Read the review online

• Simpson, silent film composer and pianist, is the featured guest in a recent episode of Studio A, a video colloquium at George Mason University.

   Watch the video online

• Simpson's music now on Naxos Music Library!

  His chamber works, Fireflies, American Gothic Suite, and Tesserae (Fleur de Son Classics) can now be accessed through the online database.