Pianist/composer/improviser Ran Blake and coproducer Aaron Hartley anticipate Hallowe’en with specimens of that most haunting genre, film noir. Now an annual tradition, this year’s concert switches from a director focus to the work of an actor who brought the word “brooding” into everyday speech: Marlon Brando.

The evening will carry us through a selection of scenes highlighting the depth and breadth of Brando’s career, from his role as a violent animal in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), to the tough young man with a mind of an adolescent in The Wild One (1953), to the young ex-boxer struggling against corrupt union bosses in On the Waterfront (1954), and many, many more. Students and faculty of NEC’s Contemporary Improvisation department perform along with the film, creating a real-time original score as they respond to the drama through improvisations, recompositions, and reinterpretations of the original orchestrations.

Members of Aaron Hartley’s Storyboard Noir Ensemble play a key role in this annual Film Noir concert. Each fall, ensemble members engage in a rich exploration of creating music for film, through aural study of original scores, development of student compositions in tandem with traditional repertoire, and collective improvisation. Other performers include Anthony Coleman’s Survivor’s Breakfast ensemble, violinist and singer Eden MacAdam-Somer, CI department chair and multi-instrumentalist Hankus Netsky, as well as Ken Schaphorst conducting the NEC Jazz Orchestra, and other special guests.