BAKER CITY — This February, take a step back in time as Keith Taylor performs original piano scores for three silent films.

The film festival is Feb. 9-11 at Eastern Oregon Regional Theatre, 2101 Main St.

The films start at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 adults, $8 EORT members and $6 students. Purchase tickets at the window, at easternoregonregionaltheatre.com or call 541-523-9652.

The films

Friday, Feb. 9 features the 1926 film “Torrent” starring Greta Garbo and Ricardo Cortez. The plot follows Rafael, who falls in love with Leonora, the poor daughter of an orange farmer. His mother squashes the affair, and Leonora heads to Paris and becomes the singing sensation “La Brunna.” When she returns home and reunites with her forbidden love, Rafael’s mother again intervenes and she returns to Paris. But will Rafael give up on his true love?

The film for Saturday, Feb. 10, is 1927’s “7th Heaven” starring Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor. Taylor describes this film as a “very serious and emotional film” and is “truly one of the greatest silent movies.”

The festival wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 11, with “Flesh and the Devil” from 1926 starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. The plot is described as “Leo meets the beautiful Felicitas at a military ball. Her husband surprises them, a duel ensues and Felicitas is left a widow.”

The performer

Taylor is a professional pianist, composer and teacher. He specializes in ragtime, early American music and silent movies. His previous background was in classical music, and he received music degrees in composition and piano.

He began composing music for silent movies in 2002. His first performance was “Son of the Sheik.”

He said his approach to movie music “is to capture, as much as possible in musical sounds, the emotions and physical movement portrayed in the film.”

“Silent filmmakers of the past had to rely on form and movement in creating their masterpieces,” Taylor said. “Live music became the catalyst for the film, and when the music and film were skillfully joined together, the resulting performance became an art form like an opera or ballet.”

The original music scores didn’t survive as well as the films, which is why Taylor composed his own.