January 14, 2024 / 4:00 pm

Philippe Quint in Charlie Chaplin’s Smile

Music by Chaplin, Brahms, Debussy, Stravinsky, and Gershwin

Did you know that Charlie Chaplin, one of the greatest silent movie actors and most iconic figures of the early film industry, was also a talented composer? To celebrate his 134th birthday (he was born on April 16, 1889), we present Philippe Quint’s critically acclaimed multimedia program. Inspired by the violinist’s successful 2019 album Chaplin’s Smile (Warner Classics), the program has appeared throughout the U.S., as well as the U.K., Germany, Poland, Russia, Israel, Romania, Switzerland, and Norway.

Quint’s unique arrangements of songs from Chaplin’s most celebrated films (Modern Times, City Lights, Monsieur Verdoux, The Kid, Limelight, and A King in New York) are interspersed with rare footage of the actor, along with still images and video clips from his films. The program also features music by composers who influenced Chaplin’s musical style: Brahms, Debussy, Stravinsky, and Gershwin.

“I think it’s amazing that my grandfather Charlie Chaplin is still around and loved by so many,” Kiera Chaplin, his granddaughter, told Forbes magazine, “and that many years after his first movie was made, he still surprises people. Philippe Quint’s new multimedia program Charlie Chaplin’s Smile is allowing him to be discovered by a whole new audience as a talented composer, a side of him many people did not know.”
                                                                           
―Program Note by Philippe Quint