Frame Ensemble

Frame Ensemble is Northern Silents’ resident quartet.

In 2018, violinist Irine Røsnes, cellist Liz Hanks, percussionist Trevor Bartlett, and pianist Jonny Best improvised a score for Metropolis at Sheffield’s Abbeydale Picture House. They enjoyed playing together so much that they decided to keep doing it - and Frame Ensemble was born.

Every Frame Ensemble performance is unique and created more-or-less spontaneously, as the musicians watch the film along with the audience. This approach enables Frame to create film soundtracks which respond closely to the film, enhancing the drama and shaping the audience’s experience.

Coming up in October/November 2025:

A performance and masterclass at University of Manchester on October 2nd

The Divine Voyage at National Centre for Early Music on October 6th

Nosferatu at The Stoller Hall on 31st October and National Science and Media Museum Bradford on 1st November (with composer and sonic artist Ben Gaunt)

Frame Ensemble’s work since 2018

Their frequent Northern Silents performances include The Great White Silence (Abbeydale Picture House Sheffield, York Concerts and Hull Truck), The Woman Men Long For (Abbeydale Picture House, Hippodrome Silent Film Festival), Eisenstein’s Strike, Julien Duvivier’s Au Bonheur des Dames, and The Brilliant Biograph: Earliest Moving Images of Europe, 1897-1902 (all at Abbeydale Picture House). At Harrogate Theatre they’ve performed The Passion of Joan of Arc, and at Harrogate Odeon, Metropolis.

Frame has appeared regularly at York’s National Centre for Early Music since 2019, performing Nosferatu, Nanook of the North, The Phantom Carriage, and South. The quartet also made its debut at Chester’s Storyhouse with Nosferatu and Old Woollen, Leeds, with Pandora’s Box. At Manchester’s Stoller Hall, Frame has scored Pandora’s Box and Au Bonheur des Dames.

Frame Ensemble is Liz Hanks (cello), Susannah Simmons* (violin), Trevor Bartlett (percussion), and Jonny Best (piano).

*Replacing Irine Røsnes for the 2024-5 season