Film and music come together in ‘Cheese’

The paired concerts carry the strange name of “Paranoid Cheese Cinema Project.” The concerts fuse music and film.

But in what is an unconventional chain of events, Marc Mellits’ compositions preceded the filming.

“It’s almost entirely from a CD of mine called ‘Paranoid Cheese’ that was recorded about five, six years ago,” Mellits said in a phone interview. “I’m interested in a blend between classical and rock because I use amplification and electric guitars. But it’s certainly not rock and not the kind of classical music you hear every day. There are driving rhythms, long melodic lines, very lyrical.”

	If you go WHAT: “Paranoid Cheese Cinema Project” with members of the New Mexico Philharmonic WHEN: 4 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. Feb. 12 WHERE: KiMo Theatre, Fifth and Central NW HOW MUCH: $20 and $30 general public, $10 students with ID, $5 children under 12 in advance at www.kimotickets.com, at the KiMo box office, by calling 768-3544 or 886-1251 at the door

Mellits said there are short films accompanying most of the 12 compositions. Each film segment, which is distinct from the others, is by French filmmaker François Pain.

Mellits said Pain used the music as inspiration.

“To me, I think the man is a genius,” he said of Pain. “They’re gorgeous, innovative films and so well-integrated into the music. For me, it’s a lot of fun to work with someone like this.”

One film segment is a scene of a fast train in the French countryside, Mellits said. Another presents a mountain scene with shepherds.

“They are carrying the sheep as they slide down the mountainside. The music with it is slow, sad. I think it’s one of the special parts of the whole project,” he said.

The concerts are the first of a new series titled “Pulse” by the New Mexico Philharmonic. The series is geared to “younger audiences while retaining the interest of the regular concertgoers,” Marian Tanau, the philharmonic’s executive director, wrote in an email.

“It features music that is a hybrid between rhythms and sounds one would hear in clubs and discos and the classical sounds one would hear at a classical concert.”

Members of the New Mexico Philharmonic, with Mellits on keyboards and guitarist Kevin Gallagher, will perform in the 80-minute-long KiMo concerts.

“This is the first version (of the project) that will have so many strings and is so much more symphonic,” Mellits said.