A major figure in French art music, Georges Auric (1899-1983) was the presiding genius of French film composition from the 1930s until the coming of La Nouvelle Vague.
Working on French, British and Hollywood films, Auric had a distinct style, often opting to experiment within his practice. With a career spanning generations, genres and disciplines, he was a member of the iconoclastic Les Six (with Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud).
In this retrospective,Ciné Lumière looks at a cross section of Auric’s film work noting his leftist inspiration, rebellion against the music establishment and expansion into genres and expressionism. From Henry Cornelius’s anarchic Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico, to Max Ophüls’s visual flourish Lola Montès, this season will also feature a live concert with Dame Felicity Lott following the screening of Auric’s first film work, The Blood of a Poet.
This season is co-curated with Academy Awards nominated British composer, Gary Yershon, as part of the Entente Cordiale Celebrations.
caricature by Jean Cocteau, 1921