The Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra will screen the 1925 silent horror classic The Phantom of the Opera with live orchestral accompaniment at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights on Oct. 24.
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra
The Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra will screen the 1925 silent horror film “The Phantom of the Opera” at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights on Oct. 24, with live orchestral accompaniment.
The two screenings, scheduled for 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., will feature a score performed by the orchestra alongside Plymouth Church’s Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ, which has 4,162 pipes.
The film stars Lon Chaney Sr. as a disfigured composer who lives beneath the Paris Opera House and becomes obsessed with Christine, a young soprano whose career he attempts to control.
Maestro Phil Nuzzo, artistic director and conductor, will lead the ensemble’s live accompaniment to The Phantom of the Opera.Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra
The score, arranged by Rodney Sauer, draws from a collection of music once used in a silent movie theater in Colorado. The collection is now held at the American Music Research Center in Boulder.
“It’s not a score that was heard on the first run of the movie, but it’s a score that could have been heard,” Sauer said in a statement.
The performance will also feature Plymouth Church’s historic organ built in 1937 and incorporating pipes from the church’s original 1866 organ.
Maestro Phil Nuzzo, artistic director and conductor of the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, said that the presentation gives audiences “a rare opportunity to experience one of the great classics of silent film with a live orchestral score.”
Attendees are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes or ensembles inspired by “The Phantom of the Opera.”Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra
“It’s an ideal way to kick off Halloween week — melding the eerie narrative of the Phantom with the orchestra’s powerful live performance,” he continued. “This fusion of film and music will create an atmosphere that’s both haunting and electrifying, setting the perfect tone for the season.”
Attendees are welcome to wear Halloween costumes.
The screenings will take place Saturday, Oct. 24, at Plymouth Church, located at 57 Orange St. in Brooklyn Heights. Tickets cost $40 and are available on their ticketing page.