Event info

The Miller-Porfiris Duo, consisting of violinist Anton Miller and violist Rita Porfiris, offers a live musical performance to a screening of a little-known film gem by Charlie Chaplin. A Burlesque on Carmen is from 1915, Chaplin's humorous and sweet interpretation of dramatic material. Chaplin himself plays one of the main characters, the soldier Don José while Edna Purviance plays Carmen. The music is taken from Bizet's opera, but the arrangement for violin and viola is by Rita Porfiris.

Admission is free and everybody is welcome while there is space. 
Duration is around 45 minutues. 

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Since giving his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, American violinist Anton Miller has appeared on five continents as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. He is concertmaster of Lincoln's Symphony. In the 2024-25 season, he served as Principal Second Violin of the Iceland Symphony. As a member of the Miller-Porfiris Duo and Quartet ES, he has released 6 albums to critical acclaim in addition to a recording of Kurt Weill Violin Concerto on Naxos. Anton is Professor of Violin at The Hartt School, and was previously on the faculty of New York University, the Oberlin Conservatory, Lawrence University, and Swarthmore College.  He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Indiana University, studying with Dorothy DeLay and Franco Gulli

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Violist Rita Porfiris performs internationally as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, and soloist. She has received Austria’s Prix Mercure, and prizes in the Fischoff Chamber and Primrose International Viola Competitions. Currently Co-Principal Viola of the Iceland Symphony, she has been a former member of the Houston Symphony, and has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the former Radio Sinfonie Orchestra Berlin, and many conductors including Riccardo Muti, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur and Sergio Celibidache. Before moving to Iceland, Rita was Professor of Viola and Chair of Chamber Music at The Hartt School. She is a member of QuartetES and the Miller-Porfiris Duo. She was a graduate of The Juilliard School and attended the Salzburg Mozarteum.

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The Miller-Porfiris Duo (MP2) has been delighting audiences since 2005. The duo has been in residency and given seminars and masterclasses at festivals and institutions across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Recent seasons have seen tours around the United States, Iceland, Taiwan and Israel; with critically acclaimed performances on the Spitalfields Festival in London, Chamber Music of Little Rock, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv Museum, and Icelandic Chamber Society series. Their “MP2 on the Silver Screen” series has reintroduced modern audiences to the compelling interplay of silent film and live music.

In 2025 MP2 will be featured in the Grand Teton Music Festival's "On the Road" series with five newly commissioned duos by Errollyn Wallen, Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir, Anne Guzzo, Ken Steen and Stephen Gryc, a program that will be repeated in Scotland and Iceland. The pandemic 2020-21 season saw them expanding to a true global audience. During this time, MP2 commissioned, premiered, and streamed over ten new pieces by women and underrepresented composers.

Their second album, Eight Pieces, was deemed “A fine new recording” “wonderfully smooth ensemble work” “vibrant and focused playing" by Gramophone and Audible Audiophile Magazines. Fanfare Magazine reviewed Divertimenti, their third album: "their playing is a lightning bolt, full of color, fire, and passion." Their fourth album, Threaded Sky, was deemed by American Record Guide to be “in the top ten of all albums I’ve ever reviewed.”