NOSFERATU: A Symphony of Horror

Nosferatu

Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau from 1921 is the earliest surviving screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  Almost destroyed by Stoker’s widow because of copyright infringement, this film has since outlasted many others of the silent era.  It was recently voted by critics on the influential Rotten Tomatoes film-site, the greatest vampire movie ever.  One of the era’s most influential masterpieces, Nosferatu’s eerie, gothic feel and a chilling performance from Max Schreck as the Count set the template for the horror films that followed.  Accompanied by Peter Urpeth on Grand Piano.

Peter Urpeth

Peter Urpeth (b Romford, Essex 1963) is a pianist, harmoniumist and composer working mostly in improvisation, jazz, theatre music and alternative performance art forms. His work in the theatre and with film started with on-stage accompaniment to Steve Berkoff’s ‘Fall Of The House of Usher’; in Perrier Award-winning shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Donald Swann (Flanders & Swann) in the Fania Williams / Richard Crane Company; with award-winning writer/performer Leon Robinson and most recently, in a series of collaborations with poet, film-maker, artist and storyteller, Ian Stephen. Silent movies are in his blood as his aunt, Constance Urpeth, was a performer in cinemas throughout London during the heyday of the silent movie era.

Favouring ad hoc and loose long-term partnerships, Peter has, over the last 30 years, worked with some of Europe’s finest improvising musicians including saxophonists Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill & Raymond MacDonald, guitarist Derek Bailey,trumpeter Jon Impett, and vocalist Maggie Nicols. His current group projects include a trio with John Russell and Phil Wachsmann.  He has given performances at the Purcell Room (South Bank Centre, London), and on British Council Tours in France, Belgium and Holland, as well as playing in the Czech Republic with Ian Stephen.

As well as being a musician, Peter is a novelist and poet. His first novel ‘Far Inland’ was published by Birlinn Polygon in 2006.

Read his blog at http://silentmoviemusic.wordpress.com/