NOSFERATU Brings The Horror To The Walt Disney Concert Hall On Halloween Night

Halloween night brings the classic German black & white horror film, Nosferatu, starring Max Schreck as the eerie Count Orlok, to Walt Disney Concert Hall. The projection of the silent movie will be accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by organist Clark Wilson on Halloween, Saturday, October 31 at 8PM.

Nosferatu, directed by F.W. Murnau, was first released in 1922. Because the studio had not obtained the rights to Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, screenwriter Henrik Galeen tried to avoid any comparisons by creating a fictional German town, changing character names, and adding and omitting plot points. Unsuccessful at disguising the obvious correlations, Nosferatu was almost lost to the world when Stoker's estate sued the studio for copyright infringement and won, thus prompting the courts to order all existing prints to be destroyed. Luckily, the film had already been distributed worldwide and Nosferatu endured. To this day, Nosferatu tops many lists as the best vampire movie ever made and still influences today's folklore. The film single-handedly created the idea that vampires can be physically harmed by daylight. In 1979, acclaimed director Werner Herzog remade the classic adopting the same make-up style used in the original. In 2000, the Academy Award nominated film, Shadow of a Vampire, imagined that Schreck was in fact a real vampire and that Murnau, obsessed with creating realistic horror by any means necessary, hired him in spite of the obvious hazards to the cast and crew.

Enhancing Schreck's convincing portrayal of the terrifying Count Orlok is organist Clark Wilson who returns to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the sixth straight year. Wilson's organ theatrics give a pulse to these silent films intensifying the suspenseful and chilling twists. Based in Ohio, Wilson is renowned throughout the country and in demand as a tonal consultant and finisher of both theater and classical pipe organs. He has received both the Technician of the Year and Organist of the Year awards from the American Theatre Organ Society, the only person to have done so, and his time is now nearly equally divided between concert and technical work.

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The Walt Disney CONCERT HALL ORGAN was inaugurated at the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in fall of 2004. Designed by Frank Gehry and Manuel Rosales of Rosales Organ Builders, the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ contains pipes ranging in size from a pencil to a telephone pole, and is voiced with a wide dynamic range from pianississimo to a breathtaking fortissimo. The specially curved wood façade pipes were made by Glatter-Götz Orgelbau of solid, vertical grain Douglas fir and consist of the Violone and Bassoon basses. Behind the facade are three levels of pipes, including metal pipes made of tin and lead alloys and wood pipes made of Norwegian pine.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the exciting new leadership of Gustavo Dudamel, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music - Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association's involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2009, 8 PM
Walt Disney CONCERT HALL
111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

HALLOWEEN SILENT MOVIE: NOSFERATU
CLARK WILSON, organ

Tickets ($26 - $51) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card by phone at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box offIce Two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For information, please call 323.850.2000.