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sunrise poster

Elizabeth-Jane Baldry is the world's only silent movie harpist providing accompaniment to silent film screenings in the manner of the old silent movie pianists.

"Elizabeth-Jane Baldry’s harp accompaniment to Marion Rice Davies’ LITTLE OLD NEW YORK was superb –
fresh, bright - a revelation.  Who would have thought the harp could have such range and depth.  Another example of a score transforming a charming, lightweight film into first-rate entertainment." Russell Merritt PhD, Professor of Film Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

"It was if she was another actor in the film - it was an intellectual and emotional response." - David Butler PhD, Lecturer in Screen Studies, Manchester University.

"A Herculean effort...ingenious variety." - Luke McKernan, Curator, Moving Image at the British Library and editor of Bioscope magazine.

" I saw SUNRISE last year with an accompaniment that completely killed it. Your harp score tonight has restored my faith in this wonderful film." - audience member, Arnolfini, Bristol.

"For anyone who mistakenly associated the harp with Palm Court trios or the signature-tune to “Mrs. Dale’s Diary”, imagining it capable only of brittle versions of light classics or relentlessly glutinous arpeggia, this performance was an education. Elizabeth-Jane conjured 95-minutes of riveting musical commentary on the story, with sounds ranging from startling metallic eruptions at moments of shock plot developments, through foot-tapping jazz-age tunes in the dance-hall sequence, to voluptuous pastoral romances and affecting melodies drawing us into deeper empathy with the characters’ emotional troubles." - Wiveliscombe Silent Film Festival

 

Peter Pan poster

"...a wonderful performance...the event was fantastic."

Emma Watkins
Cinema Programmer
Barbican Centre, London.

"an extraordinary performance...sensational."

Chris Daniels, artistic director, Bristol Silents.

 

EJ and Jean Darling Jean Darling

Left: Elizabeth-Jane with the vibrant, irrepressible Jean Darling, star of 35 Our Gang films, and the only surviving cast member from the silent era.

Right: photo of Jean in the 1920s. (Jean continued to appear in films after leaving the gang, including an appearance in Laurel & Hardy's 1934 adaptation of Babes in Toyland and as the young Jane in Jane Eyre (1934). She played Carrie Pipperidge in the original Broadway production of Carousel in 1945, appearing in 850 consecutive performances and setting a record for a singer.)

   
This fairyharp site is now archived. Please visit the mobile friendly site at www.elizabethjanebaldry.com