Salomé – Silent film with live improvised Organ accompaniment

a phantasmagoria of striking images, unbridled sensuality, and fearless storytelling – Martin Turbill

A rare screening of the remarkable 1922-3 film, Salomé in the dramatic setting of the antechapel at Magdalen College. This film is a spectacular adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde, one of Magdalen College’s most infamous alumni. The crazed King Herod is obsessed with his stepdaughter Salomé and grants her one wish in exchange for a dance of the seven veils. She uses this bargain to bring catastrophe upon Herod and fulfil her own fantasies through the execution of John the Baptist. The film was directed and starred the Russian actress Alla Nazimova, and is considered one of the first art films produced in the United States. The film never achieved box office success as it was too risqué to be taken up by a major distributor, and rumours abounded that the entire cast were gay or bisexual in homage to Oscar Wilde. The costumes and sets were inspired by the illustrations of Wilde’s play made by Aubrey Beardsley, and the whole production exudes an extraordinary fin-de-siècle decadence. Accompanied by the rich variety of colours on the new organ by David Bednall, this promises to be a memorable event for film aficionados and music-lovers alike. It returns to the festival by popular demand, this time with new improvisation by none other than David Bednall!

David Bednall is published by Choral Music Publishing, Oxford University Press, Boosey and Hawkes, Faber, and Novello. He is Choral Director of Clifton Cathedral, Musical Director of Bristol Bach Choir, Bristol Chamber Choir and Chew Valley Choral Society, alongside an extensive freelance career. He was previously Organ Scholar at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and then at Gloucester Cathedral, Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral, Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral and has improvised on live radio, and performed extensively in the UK and abroad, including at Notre-Dame de Paris – and even was stunt organist on Dr Who! His compositions are widely performed, recorded, and broadcast on BBC Radio and Classic FM. David’s St Mark Passion was commissioned for the BBC Singers in 2025.