This Halloween week, Opera Philadelphia is giving silent horror films a spine-tingling upgrade: live organ music in the heart of Center City.
Inside the Wanamaker Building, the grand Greek Hall hums with anticipation. History stirs, and what was once seen in silence now has a sound. The Wurlitzer Organ comes alive under the hands of 24-year-old self-taught organist Ian Fraser, who’s been playing for eight years.
“It’s pretty much a combination of themes that I’ve come up with for different characters and situations and maybe some references to classic or popular music,” Fraser said.
On Monday night, Fraser prepares to bring the 1920s classic Faust to life, a story of a scholar who sells his soul to the devil for youth and desire, only to face a dark, tragic fate.
Film scholar Carrie Rickey calls it “the origin story of horror this week,” noting the deep influence these early films had on the genre.
Each night, Opera Philadelphia’s Silent Classic Horror series revives 1920s terror for Halloween.
Attendees like Asher Botvin, part of Opera Philadelphia’s Pipe Up! program, say the live organ accompaniment adds “a really unique detail and depth” to the films.
“These movies influenced film noir,” Rickey said. “The scary dark movies popular in the ’40s and ’50s created the foundation for Universal Pictures’ ‘Dracula’ and ‘Frankenstein.'”
For Fraser, the Wurlitzer Organ is more than an instrument, it’s a time machine, bridging the audience with the silent shadows on screen.
“I think it’s just an epic experience to be in a room like this, in a building like this, and with an instrument like this,” Fraser said. “It all comes together.”
As the final notes fade in the Wanamaker, the shadows of 1920s horror linger, a reminder that some stories, like the music that brings them to life, refuse to be silent.
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