Music has accompanied film since the beginning, but with the advent of “talkies,” music’s role began to take a different shape. What does it mean to compose live music for silent era films, but from a modern vantage situated within the context of nearly a century’s worth of film music evolution? Dylan will discuss his process and thoughts about writing music for the four silent films he has scored and share some insights about the particular challenges and rewards of this art form.

Dylan Champagne is a composer, performer, audio engineer, educator, and post-production professional. His music ranges from avant-garde to accessible, from chamber music to prog-punk, and is heavily informed by the 15+ years he spent involved in the underground San Francisco Bay Area music scene. He has been an active member of the Immersion Composition Society since 2001 and has written for film, silent film, chamber groups / mixed ensembles, British brass band, wind ensemble, orchestra, rock trio & quartet, and electronics. Champagne’s music has been performed by numerous groups and performers including The Cory Band, The Berkeley Ensemble, The Torch Quartet, and duality. Champagne is a lecturer of music composition and DAW at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho.