AT A GLANCE
SOUND HORIZONS
(September 6)
KERNIS @ THE KEYS
(October 6)
NOSFERATU
(October 30)
KOREAMERICA II
(January 31)
NIGHT OF THE LIVING COMPOSERS
(March 8)
AVANT GARDEN PARTY
(June 8)
SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL & NEW MUSIC WORKS PRESENTS
~ NOSFERATU ~
WITH AN ORIGINAL SCORE BY PHILIP COLLINS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2007, 7 PM ~ DEL MAR THEATRE, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz~ NOSFERATU ~
WITH AN ORIGINAL SCORE BY PHILIP COLLINS
Tickets: $18 general, $15 senior, $10 students
By Mail: Send checks to New Music Works, P.O. Box 2266, Santa Cruz 95063-2266
Online: www.santacruztickets.com (available one week prior to performance)
The Santa Cruz Film Festival in conjunction with the Santa Cruz Chapter of the American Red Cross hosts the New Music Works Ensemble for a special eve of Halloween screening of Nosferatu - the original and definitive vampire film of 1922.
This special pre-Halloween screening of Nosferatu will be accompanied by a chilling score by New Music Works Artistic Director, composer Philip Collins.
The premiere performance of this work in October 2003 at the Rio Theatre, elicited a standing ovation from a packed house. This exhumation of Collins' Nosferatu score will feature the same line-up of remarkable players that performed the piece at the 2003 premiere.
THE PERFORMERS
Teresa Orozco-Petersen, flute, piccolo
Timb Harris, electronic violin, trumpet 
Stan Poplin, double bassIrene Herrmann, concertina and cello
Michael McGushin, sampler keyboardJim Kassis, percussion
Philip Collins, ConductorCOMPOSING THE SCORE
"...in the spring of 2003 Laurence Bedford at the Rio Theatre asked me if New Music Works would like to provide music for the classic horror film, 'Nosferatu.' I said yes, absolutely. I had accompanied the movie back in the 80s, on piano and a wheezy little organ - part of an enjoyable year-and-a half stint with Bear Republic Theatre accompanying silent films on a monthly basis at the Art Center Theatre. I hoped that I could dredge up my sketches from last time around; but for good or ill, I couldn't find them.
For my money, 'Nosferatu' is the most frightening of all horror films. Max Schreck's performance as Count Dracula is extraordinarily frightful, and Murnau's direction amplifies the macabre factor through unusual edits juxtaposing total stillness and unearthly motion. Murnau's dreamlike shiftings of time and atmosphere collude chillingly with unexpected humor and eroticism. Count Dracula's propensity for blood cocktails is anything but sensationalized in the film; in fact his neck-gnawing accounts for little of the film's terror level. Murnau scares us through subtle teasing of the senses and a minimum of dialogue, reaching into our psyches with images that are burned into our memories FOREVER. AHH!
A formidable challenge in composing music for 'Nosferatu' was to not interfere. The film operates on the emotional insinuations of atmosphere and rhythms (often pointedly unnatural ones). I felt that the best I could provide was musical accompaniment that simply resonates what is already there.
For the instrumentation I wanted a combination of electronic and acoustic instruments that encompassed at least some hints of Eastern European musical traditions. I also wanted to evoke less tangible realms to accommodate the film's phantom populace, and in doing so I created a set of samples with the artful technical assistance of Emanuel Deruty and Mark Plummer.
I was exceedingly fortunate in coercing six members of the New Music Works Ensemble Teresa Orozco-Petersen (flute/piccolo), Timb Harris (electric violin/trumpet), Irene Herrmann (concertina/cello), Stan Poplin (double bass), Jim Kassis (percussion), Michael McGushin (keyboard) ? to perform the premiere of Nosferatu in 2003. And they played it wonderfully. And, without a single rehearsal!
In fact, anyone who attended the 2003 premiere at the Rio Theatre, will remember waiting in line for an hour or more, (after the scheduled starting time) while the musicians looked at their parts for the first time. It was an unbelievable evening. Somehow, it all came together. However, had it not been for Mark Plummer's (11th hour) idea and implementation of routing video monitors of the film to each player, we would have sunk. Had it not been for Daev Roehr's detailed (seat-of-the-pants) miking and mixing of the ensemble, the audience would have not heard the score with such clarity.
Good fortune smiles upon us again, the entire above mentioned crew of players and technicians are on board for this 2007 revival of Nosferatu. Thank you Jane Sullivan and the Santa Cruz Film Festival for exhuming our horrific enterprise.
PROGRAM NOTES
For some further reading on the history of the movie and a critique by Roger Ebert click here.
