Phillip Johnston is a composer of original scores for silent film. He has composed scores for four feature-length films and one evening-length collection of the short films of Georges Méliès
The Unknown (1927)
The Merry Frolics of Méliès (1899-1909)
Page of Madness (1926)
Faust (1926)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
Johnston has been creating original scores for silent films for over 20 years. His scores have been widely performed in Europe, Australia and the United States, at venues including The New York Film Festival, The Sydney Film Festival, The Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, The Virginia Film Festival, The Roma Jazz & Image Festival (Rome, Italy), Rote Fabrik (Zurich, Switzerland), Slovenska kinoteka (Ljubljana, Slovenia), The Melbourne Festival of the Arts, The Sydney Opera House, MONA FOMA (Tasmania), German Film Festival (Sydney, Australia), American Museum of the Moving Image, Revelation Perth International Film Festival, and many others.
Each of Johnston’s scores approaches silent film in a unique way. His score for The Unknown is an homage to the horror/silent film era, his Georges Méliès Project a study in different approaches to eight short films, his Page of Madness score uses carefully scored improvisation, and his Faust score features original songs as well as underscore.
His most recent score, for The Adventures of Prince Achmed, again represents a new approach to music for silent film. Combining electronic and acoustic instruments, the score is structured around a pre-recorded score of sampled electronic loops and percussion. Against this, a live band will perform, consisting of two keyboards, soprano saxophone, & trombone. The music is through-composed, seasoned with elements of improvisation, and invokes elements of jazz, blues, minimalism and classical music.