"Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde"

Commissioned by Sayre Maxfield & The Film Society of Lincoln Center, and written for the virtuosic expanse of Anthony de Mare's piano mastery, Al Kryszak's "Piano Concerto" premiered in its film score form at Lincoln Center in 2004. Conducted by the composer at The Walter Read Theatre, the marathon piano concerto accompanied the rarely seen "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde", starring John Barrymore in this landmark 1920 silent classic directed by John Robertson.

The dramatic scenes of Dr. Jekyll's descent into madness via chemicals, alternated with his fiancé, Milly, at the piano, in melancholic meanderings which triggered the composer to conjure melodies she may have been writing for her ill-fated husband-to-be.

Selected Reviews of the Composer's Concert & Film Work:

"His classical pieces are beautifully wrought, and include a lovely set of works for clarinet and orchestra (which he released as All The Luck, in 2008), several sets of piano works, and Having an Atonal Christmas, for string quartet and harp, as well as soundtrack music for silent films, including an inventive flute and guitar score for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and a piano concerto that doubled as a score for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde¸ and that the pianist Anthony DeMare has recorded. "

- Allan Kozinn: San Francisco Classical Voice (Former NY Times Classical Music Critic)

"Al kryszak's score for "Nosferatu" bathes the silent classic in desolate ambience: moody sounds, processed guitars, and cimbalom...."

- New York Magazine Magazine

Al Kryszak is a composer, filmmaker, pianist & guitarist based in Maine. Work includes Turner Classic Movies, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The New England Film Orchestra, The American Festival of Microtonal Music, Mabou Mines, June-in-Buffalo, Symphony Space, LA Directors Guild, & KINO. He is on the Creative Arts/Media Faculty at the University of Maine at Machias, Unity College & Southern New Hampshire University. Kryszak studied at SUNY Buffalo with Lukas Foss, Morton Feldman, Bill Kothe, Louis Andriessen & Lou Harrison.