December 8, 2025

[Vancouver, WA. December 8, 2025] – The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA’s Nien-Wei Hsiao Chamber Music Series, welcomes Rodney Sauer back to Vancouver, WA for a showing of Man with a Movie Camera (1929). Sponsored by Oregon Public Broadcasting, the performance will be held on Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 7 p.m. at the historic Kiggins Theatre in Vancouver, WA. The film will be accompanied by live music as it would have been in the silent film theaters of the 1920s. This concert is the second in a series of three silent film chamber performances throughout the 2025/26 season. In November, the audience was delighted by Chaplin’s Go West, and April’s program is set to feature King Vidor’s Show People (1929).

Released in 1929, Man with a Movie Camera is an experimental silent film that documented urban life in Odessa, Kiev, and Kharkiv throughout the late 1920s. It is a film without actors, featuring only the cameramen, film editors, and Soviet citizens as they work, play, and travel. Written and directed by Dziga Vertov, the film is known for Vertov’s wide range of cinematic techniques including fast and slow motion, multiple exposure, jump cuts, tracking shots and split screens. The film will be accompanied by a period-authentic live score compiled by pianist and arranger Rodney Sauer and performed by Mr. Sauer and VSO musicians Jeong Yoon Lee, violin, Kristopher Duke, cello, Bruce Dunn, trumpet, and Igor Shakhman, clarinet.

The 2025/26 Nien-Wei Hsiao Chamber Music Series season is presented by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

What: Man with a Movie Camera (1929) with live music
When: Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Where:Kiggins Theatre, 1011 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
Tickets: $25 ($10 students at the door) at kigginstheatre.com

About Rodney Sauer
Rodney Sauer, pianist and score compiler, studied at the Oberlin Conservatory while majoring in Chemistry at Oberlin College and has appeared as piano soloist with the Boulder Sinfonia. He is an avid student of silent film music, and his article on the history and use of "photoplay music" was published in the American Music Research Center Journal. He is a frequent performer in various participatory dance genres from early 20th century ballroom dance to morris and contra dance. He also plays solo improvised silent film scores, although the Mont Alto Orchestra is his major musical endeavor. In 2001 he won a Musical grant from the Arts and Humanities Assembly of Boulder.

About Jeong Yoon Lee
Dr. Jeong Yoon Lee is an active Korean-American violinist and the Principal 2nd of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, SMU, and Stony Brook University, where she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. She is also the founder and a director of All Nations Music Academy, a non-profit organization that provides music education to underprivileged students, as well as supporting and developing music education for missionaries in Haiti. It is her great passion to teach young, talented musicians to become worshipers as she strives to minister to God through her talent.

About Kristopher Duke
Kristopher Duke's passion for music transcends traditional barriers, with wide-ranging interests including motion picture soundtracks and heavy metal. A native of Portland, Oregon, he studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received both his bachelor's and master's degrees. Starting fall 2025, Kris is the acting principal cellist of the Vancouver Symphony, in addition to being a regular substitute with the Oregon Symphony.

About Bruce Dunn
Now in his 22nd year as the VSO’s principal trumpet, Bruce Dunn is an accomplished freelance trumpeter who holds performance degrees from both Washington State University and Portland State University. A recipient of the prestigious Presser Foundation Scholarship, he can be heard in venues across the Northwest. He has performed in groups across the region including the Portland Opera, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, the Big Horn Brass, the Portland Festival Symphony, the Beach Cantata Choir and many others. He is also a founding member of the Columbia Rover Brass Ensemble. In addition to performing, Bruce is a National Board-Certified Teacher and the Director of Bands at Covington Middle School, Sunset Elementary and Silver Star Elementary in the Evergreen School District. He has also taught at Evergreen High School, Mountain View High School and Pacific Middle School.

About Igor Shakhman
As an orchestra and chamber musician, Shakhman has played in international music festivals throughout the United States, France, Germany, Greece, Russia and Switzerland. He has participated in two critically acclaimed Broadway tours: the first national tour of Oklahoma! and as principal clarinetist and on-stage soloist in the North American tour of Fiddler on the Roof. He received his B.A. in Music from Kharkov Music College, Master’s from the Moscow Conservatory and Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado. In addition to being principal clarinet for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, he is also the orchestra’s CEO.

About The VSO Nien-Wei Chamber Music Series
The VSO Nien-Wei Hsiao Chamber Music Series is presented by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The series was co-created by Dr. Michael C. Liu, VSO pianist and board member, and Dr. Igor Shakhman, VSO CEO and Principal Clarinet. The VSO Nien-Wei Hsiao Chamber Music Series is proud to provide enchanting chamber music in an intimate setting. Originally intended to be played in a small chamber, hall, or house, chamber music showcases musician virtuosity in melodies that are quite exposed in a typical ensemble of three to six musicians. Listeners enjoy an entirely new concert experience meant to speak to every individual in a comfortable space. The content of each VSO concert is unique, ranging from musical accompaniment for silent films and operatic soloists, to traditional string quartets and trios. Now in its fourteenth season, the VSO Nien-Wei Hsiao Chamber Music Series continues to provide this matchless art form to the Vancouver community.

About the VSO
The VSO, now in its 47th season, enriches lives in the Pacific Northwest and beyond through world-class symphonic concerts, other musical performances, and engaging educational programming. For more information, please visit vancouversymphony.org.

About Our Sponsors
The VSO is generously supported by individual donors, The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Realvest Foundation, Keller Foundation, Oregon Public Broadcasting, The AC Hotel Marriott, United Grain Corporation, Columbia Credit Union, All Classical Radio, Gravitate, Dick Hannah Dealerships, The Columbian, Michelle’s Piano Co., Pacific Office Automation, Salsbury & Co., Steinway & Sons Portland, The VIC, Kiggins Theatre, Opsahl Dawson, and Willful Wine Company.

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