Capitolfest

Dealers Room

The Dealers Room is a highlight of the Capitolfest experience. Open throughout the festival, the Dealers Room offers a wide variety of stills, posters, books, films, magazines, DVDs, records, and more. In 2026, the Dealers Room will take place in the Capitol’s multi-purpose “Back Building,” a well-lit, ground-level location accessible by the tunnel to the left of the historic theater. Capitolfest attendees are free to browse the Dealers Room during show hours.

Tentative Dealers’ Room Hours:

• Thursday, August 13: 5:30pm-7:30pm
• Friday, August 14: 9am-7:45pm
• Saturday, August 15: 9am-8pm
• Sunday, August 16: 9am-4:30pm

Information for Dealers:

Capitolfest organizers are now accepting registrations for dealers. Please see the 2026 Capitolfest Dealers Room Registration Form. For more information, please contact Julie Pierce at [email protected].

Capitolfest Organists

Capitolfest is proud to welcome some of the world’s foremost exponents of authentic silent movie accompaniment. 

Dr. Philip C. Carli 

Dr. Philip C. Carli discovered silent film at the age of five and began his accompaniment career at thirteen, with a performance for Lon Chaney’s 1923 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While at college he programmed and accompanied an annual series of silent films, and also organized and conducted a 50-piece student orchestra using 19th-century performance practice. Since then, he has continued his studies of the film, music, and culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, earning a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music.

Dr. Carli has toured extensively as a film accompanist throughout North America and Europe, performing on keyboard and with orchestra at such venues as Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Cinémathèque Québécoise in Montreal, the National Film Theatre in London, and the Berlin International Film Festival. He is the staff accompanist for the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY and performs annually at several film festivals in the United States as well as at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Italy.

Ben Model

Ben Model is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theater organ. Ben works full-time presenting and accompanying silent films in a wide variety of venues and festivals nationally and internationally, carrying on a tradition he learned from silent film organist Lee Erwin (1919-2000).

Over the past four decades, Ben has created and performed thousands of live scores for several hundred silent films. Ben is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at the Library of Congress’ Packard Campus Theatre, is a regular at festivals such as the TCM Classic Film Festival and the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and performs regularly at historic theaters, museums, schools, and other venues around the United States and internationally.

David Peckham

Raised in a musical family in Breesport, NY, David Peckham credits his parents with giving him a musical background. David began studying piano at age 8, then classical organ as a high school student with Albert Zabel in Elmira, NY. He went on to graduate from the University of Rochester, where he studied liberal arts and organ with David Craighead at the Eastman School of Music. Upon graduation, he returned home to join his family’s business, L.A. Peckham and Son Pipe Organ Service, and now cares for over 50 instruments across New York State and northern PA. 

David has performed on nearly every major theater organ in the USA, and has also toured Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has played for several conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society (ATOS), and was honored to be named “Organist of the Year” at the 2016 ATOS convention. David has served as organist and choir director at the First United Methodist Church in Horseheads, NY since 1985. He also serves as organ curator and resident organist at the Clemens Performing Arts Center in Elmira, NY.

Supporting Capitolfest

Capitolfest is made possible through the contributions of generous donors, businesses, and grant makers, who are eager to encourage the preservation of rare historic film, 35mm film projection, and the fine art of quality silent film musical accompaniment. Meanwhile, Capitolfest is an important economic booster, encouraging hundreds of guests each year to patronize local restaurants, stay in local hotels, and visit other businesses and tourist destinations in the Mohawk Valley. There are many ways to support this important event:

Individuals

If Capitolfest or the broader Capitol Arts Complex has made a significant impression on you, please consider making a tax-deductible financial contribution to our organization. Donations can be made to our:

Annual Fund – A general operating fund that provides for any needs the Capitol may have, such as utilities, maintenance support, or administrative costs. Donations can be made via any of these methods:

• Online at www.romecapitol.com/donate
• Calling our administrative office, open Tuesday-Friday between 11:00 AM-4:00 PM, at 315-337-6277
• By mail (please make checks out to “Capitol Theatre” and include “Annual Fund” in the memo line
• In-person at the Capitol box office, open Tuesday-Friday between 11:00 AM-4:00 PM.

Theater Organ Restoration Fund – A special fund dedicated to restoring the Capitol’s original-installation Möller theater organ. Donations can be made by any of these methods:

• Online at www.romecapitol.com/donate (if donating to this fund, we ask that you please email [email protected] and specify that your donation is to specifically benefit the Theater Organ Restoration Fund)
• Calling our administrative office, open Tuesday-Friday between 11:00 AM-4:00 PM, at 315-337-6277
• By mail (please make checks out to “Capitol Theatre” and include “Organ Fund” in the memo line
• In-person at the Capitol box office, open Tuesday-Friday between 11:00 AM-4:00 PM.

Businesses

Financial and in-kind contributions are extremely important to Capitolfest. If your business would like to be part of this event, please consider sponsoring Capitolfest or taking out an ad in our program booklet. 

We’d like to thank the following business supporters:

• Annie Creates Art Studio
• Bagel Grove
• Bank of Utica
• DiCastro’s Brick Oven
• Sentinel Media Co.

Grant Supporters

We thank the following charitable foundations for their contributions to Capitolfest and the restoration of the Capitol’s theater organ: 

• American Theatre Organ Society
• Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties
• Film Music Foundation
• Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation
• Rome Community Foundation
• Slutzker Family Foundation