Cinematic Symphony of the Organ / "The Phantom of the Opera" - NOSPR

A musician capable of improvisation is a rare "white crow." It requires the ability to simultaneously blend melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint into a graceful musical form while also following the displayed image on the screen... 

"The Phantom of the Opera," like "Dracula" or "Frankenstein," is an adaptation of a literary work. Gaston Leroux's novel was published in 1909, and in 1925, it made its way to the cinema screens. Since then, the titular character - Erik - has appeared in five more film adaptations and two television versions, and in 1986, he even took on a singing role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. However, only Rupert Julian's version fully utilized the gothic heritage of the novel. 

Tim Burton undoubtedly remembered the underground opera scenes from Rupert Julian's film: the dark, gloomy labyrinth of dungeons, full of deadly traps. The wandering characters are accompanied only by darkness – the entire film seems almost submerged in it. The film's greatest asset is its visual aspect – the dazzling set design featuring an accurately reproduced building of the Paris Opera or the magnificent cinematography that utilizes light and shadow play, a technique borrowed from German expressionism. The film is already considered a classic of horror or, as some prefer to call it, horror cinema. In the role of Erik, the disfigured and repulsive musical genius, the first star of the genre, the expressive Lon Chaney, known as the "man of a thousand faces," took on a terrifying and deformative facial characterization. Allegedly, he painted his own face for the film's needs. 

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Concert duration: approximately 120 minutes