“The Golem: A Vision in Sound and Cinema” with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestraat The Quick Center in Fairfield

Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert
A masterwork of German expressionist cinema meets a live klezmer-infused score in a vibrant feast for the eyes and ears. Paul Wegener’s 1920 silent film Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (The Golem: How He Came into the World) was so popular on its release that it sold out movie houses in both Germany and America for months, inspired Golem-themed operas and operettas, and was a critical influence on the 1931 cult film Frankenstein. Drawn from folklore dating back to early Judaism, Der Golem tells the story of a community of Jews in Medieval Prague who create a monster out of clay to protect themselves from the Holy Roman Emperor, only to see it violently turn against them. To harmonize with the atmosphere of the film, contemporary Israeli composer Betty Olivero takes traditional Yiddish folk-tunes and music from the Jewish liturgy and reinvigorates them using avant-garde compositional techniques. The resulting score for clarinet and strings is colorful, ominous, and exciting—and the experience of hearing live musicians perform it during the classic film promises to be unforgettable. Jonathan Yates, the Music Director of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, will conduct NSO Principal Clarinetist Saerom Kim and the internationally acclaimed Avalon String Quartet in the performance.

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