MONDAY 5 JULY

Espacio Cultural Cajacanarias

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA – TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

TUESDAY 6 JULY

Espacio Cultural Cajacanarias

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA – TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

WEDNESDAY 7 JULY

Espacio Cultural Cajacanarias

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA – TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

THURSDAY 8 JULY

Espacio Cultural Cajacanarias

FRIDAY 9 JULY

Espacio Cultural Cajacanarias

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA - TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

SATURDAY 10 JULY

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA - TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

SUNDAY 11 JULY

SALA DE AUDIOVISUALES TEA - TENERIFE ESPACIO DE LAS ARTES

FILMOTECA CANARIA

Alex North’s Centenary Celebration

“For those of us coming of age in the 1950s, and seriously interested in film music, Alex North was an inspiration, a role model and a hero. He was then and he remains so today.I have often felt that if you could perform a magical act of alchemy and combine some of the great Russian-Soviet composers, say Shostakovich or Prokofiev with Duke Ellington or Billy Strayhorn, you might produce a wonder such as Alex North. By whatever mysterious process, these influences were conjoined in Alex to create music that is uniquely his own, and for that we can all be grateful.”

“Alex was the first genius I ever met. (I’ve not met many since!) The first artist who I was sure was breaking new ground – who would influence all who followed him – whose work would be listened to and studied and revered for generations. Time has proven me right so far.”

Legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith put it very succinctly, when speaking of North: “Of all of us, he’s the master.” With his very first score for Hollywood, Alex North redirected the course of film music. Jerry Goldsmith said that from the first time he heard it, he knew “film music had changed” and “would never be the same.” North’s Streetcar is a masterwork. The Wonderful Country (1959) allowed Alex North to musically return to the Mexico he loved, and had so beautifully explored in his score for Viva Zapata (1952)! The Misfits is a completely unique score that stands among North’s very best work. Although it is known for being the final film of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, it also features Montgomery Clift, in what was one of his own final performances. The explosive Main Title would make a convincing opening for a piano concerto.

For the famous mustang roundup at the end of the film North composed nearly 15 minutes of music in ballet form, divided into four movements. The Dead (1987) adapts a short story from James Joyce’s The Dubliners and inspired North to base his score on the old Irish ballad, The Lass of Aughrim. It is truly one of North’s most heartbreakingly beautiful and compassionate scores. This was the last, of five films, Alex North scored for his friend John Huston. In 1960 North composed only one score. It was a 13-month job and was, by far, the biggest assignment he ever had accepted.

Spartacus Months of study, learning all he could about the music of ancient Rome, were followed by many more months of writing and an epic recording schedule. The final film contained over two hours of original score, with an enormous stylistic range. Featuring a love theme second in popularity in North’s canon to only Unchained Melody, Spartacus is present on nearly every serious list considering the greatest film scores ever composed. This year, 2010, the world celebrates what would have been Alex North’s 100th birthday. He left a powerful impression on his art form, and his position as the father of modern film music is now widely recognized. Alex North received 15 Academy Award nominations and was the first composer, of only two, to be given the Academy’s Life Achievement Award. Alex North’s music, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, impacted the entire next stage in the evolution of film music, and it continues to excite and inspire our current generation of composers.