Rodney Sauer

Rodney Sauer is a pianist and arranger who researches and assembles historically informed musical scores for silent films, then performs them live alongside orchestras. At these Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concerts he brings compiled scores for the silent classics "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" and "The Kid Brother," pairing period-appropriate music with the on-screen action.

Sauer's work centers on silent film accompaniment, a tradition where music was drawn from cue sheets and stock catalogs of the era rather than a single original score. Expect his piano parts to follow the rhythm of the film closely, underscoring chases, comedy, and romance with music that would have been familiar to audiences of the 1920s. For "Sunrise," a visually poetic silent drama, listeners can expect a score that leans into sustained, atmospheric material to match its lyrical imagery. For "The Kid Brother," a silent comedy, the music is likely to be lighter and more nimble, tracking sight gags and physical comedy beat for beat. Because these are compiled rather than newly composed scores, the emphasis is on authenticity to the period and responsiveness to the film rather than a personal compositional voice.