Silent Classic ‘Nosferatu’ Gets Organ Improv Showing at TAMIU Saturday

             A rare opportunity to see the highly influential silent horror film “Nosferatu,”  complete with full pipe organ accompaniment, will take place this Saturday (Oct. 31) at Texas A&M International University’s

Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall at 3 p.m.

            The event is free of charge and open to the public.

            Originally released as a silent film in 1929, the film is adapted from Bram Stoker’s classic “Dracula” by director F. W. Murnau.

            TAMIU organist and assistant professor Colin Campbell will provide a live improvisation on the Sharkey Corrigan Pipe Organ, creating an experience that replicates how silent movies were originally presented with orchestral, or primarily organ accompaniment.

             “This is a great opportunity to link to one of the landmark silent movies and the tradition of live accompaniment, while also showing the broad spectrum of the Sharkey Corrigan Organ’s majestic sounds.  I think audiences of all ages are in for a treat,” Dr. Campbell said.

             In the film, still considered a benchmark for horror movies that would follow, the mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. There, the eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen. After Orlok’s true vampire nature is revealed, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, realizing that his beloved Ellen is in grave danger. Knock, Orlok's servant, gets busy, preparing for his master to arrive at his new home.

 

             This past May, Campbell provided a very popular improvised organ accompaniment for the silent film epic, “The Phantom of the Opera.”  To see a video of that performance, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7c5qEMt81U\

              For more information, contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu, click on tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library.