Brittany Montoro Brittany Montoro is a fan of horror films and the creepier those films are the more she enjoys them.
For the past three years, Montoro, who is the organist and choir director at the First United Methodist Church, 91 W. Main St., Freehold, has taken her fascination with the genre and created a scary event to allow others in the community to share her passion for the art.
A “Silent Film Spooktacular” will be held at the church at 7 p.m. Oct. 23. Montoro will play the organ as she accompanies a showing of the 1920 film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” starring John Barrymore and Nita Naldi.
Tickets at the door will be $5 for adults. Children under 10 will be admitted free. Refreshments will be offered at intermission.
Montoro is thrilled to be able to create a musical score for “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which she said shows the “common duality people share in their lives — the good and evil, the hot and cold, the mad or happy. The demons we all share.”
She said, “My Jekyll is church music and classical music. My Hyde is the desire to break free of establishment and try new things …”
She said the first horror film she saw was director Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” “It was terrifying,” she said. “I loved it.”
She was inspired to accompany silent films during her first semester at Westminster Conservatory in Princeton. “I loved the organist’s ability to create music for a showing of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ in a way that heightened the experience. I decided to put my improvisational skills to use in a film genre I love,” Montoro said.
Of her upcoming performance in Freehold, she said, “I will create a theme for Jekyll and a theme for Hyde so people will know what is happening and who the character is at the time. People love it. It’s slightly frightening.
Although she will watch the movie several times prior to the performance and develop ideas about what she wants to do, Montoro said her performance will also feature improvisation.
At some points she will change the organ registration (i.e., organ timbres) to produce a desired effect.
“This sets the mood whether it be somber, happy, romantic or scary,” she said. “Music prepares the observer for what happens next and lets them know something good is going to happen or something bad is going to happen. This aspect of live performance makes it fun.”
Using all the music she has listened to and played, and “all the music floating around in my head,” Montoro comes up with what she wants the music to be as she continues to improvise what she calls a constantly working process.
“I put into the organ and bring out in terms of what I feel at that moment. I don’t have it mapped out. I trust in God and it comes out the way it comes out.”
Montoro, who lives in Pennsylvania, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition summa cum laude from Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Va. She is the organist and choir director of the First United Methodist Church in Freehold and the high school choral and band director at Conwell- Egan Catholic High School in Fairless Hills, Pa.