The Mark of Zorro (1920) w/ Live Organ Accompaniment

“Douglas Fairbanks’s first great acrobatic epic, from 1920, set the standard for zesty swashbucklers.” — Michael Sragow, The New Yorker

SYNOPSIS

Don’t miss the film that introduced one of cinema’s greatest swashbuckling heroes! Douglas Fairbanks stars as Don Diego Vega, a seemingly foppish aristocrat who secretly dons the mask of the legendary Zorro to defend the people of Spanish California from corruption and tyranny. Overflowing with dazzling swordplay, acrobatic stunts, and Fairbanks’s irresistible charisma, The Mark of Zorro helped define the action-adventure genre while establishing the masked avenger as an enduring pop-culture archetype. Experience this silent-era classic as audiences once did, with live accompaniment by organist Brett Miller on the Wurlitzer organ for an unforgettable journey back to the golden age of moviegoing.

ABOUT ORGANIST BRETT MILLER

As one of the youngest in a rare art form, Brett Miller is an active organist, conductor, and arranger specializing in the art of silent film accompaniment. A finalist in the American Theatre Organ Society’s Young Organist Competition, Brett has continued his academic involvement and advocacy for the education and preservation of silent films through performance “live to picture.” In the Spring of 2021, he was appointed Music Director of the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a nonprofit based in Rochester, NY, that advocates for the education, performance, and production of film music. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the organization. Brett shares a close relationship between the ensemble and the Beal Institute of Film Contemporary  Media at the Eastman School of Music.

His recent scores have been recorded with organizations such as the Eye Filmmuseum, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation, and Kino Lober Classics. He has been featured in the past at various film festivals and has played events in conjunction with film preservationists from the Library of Congress and Geroge Eastman House. Brett has been a featured Artist at the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center’s annual Organ Day, an event he attended as a young Organist in its first year. He is a frequent recitalist at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, playing the world’s largest Pipe Organ.

Brett studied Organ with renowned organist Jelani Eddington and Piano with Beth Crompton.  He studied film accompaniment with Ben Model and Bernie Anderson. Brett is a native of Bedminster, Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Institute.  He is currently studying at the Eastman School of Music and studying Piano with Dr. Joseph Rackers.