Vampire and Halloween with Athelas: Film showing and concert

On the most haunted night of the year, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen invites the audience into one of the most enigmatic worlds in film history. Halloween provides the setting for a concert experience in which Carl Th. Dreyer’s cult film Vampyr (1932) is brought to life through Joby Talbot’s intense and atmospheric music from 2018.

The L.A. Times wrote after the premiere: “Talbot’s work effectively manages to blend the old and the new, finding a balance between nostalgic, romantic motifs and unmistakably modern elements.” The evening offers a unique opportunity to experience Vampyr as a living, breathing “gesamtkunstwerk”.

The music

Dreyer’s film is a dreamlike journey through fog, silence, and unease – a work that never provides clear answers, but instead creeps under the skin with its ghostly cinematic language. For this universe, Joby Talbot has composed a musical undergrowth of trembling strings, skewed rhythms, and transparent layers of sound, which not only accompany the film but give it a new pulse.

Talbot’s music intensifies the film’s sense of hovering between reality and nightmare, and on Halloween night this encounter gains a particularly powerful resonance. As the L.A. Times also wrote: “Talbot’s work effectively manages to blend the old and the new, finding a balance between nostalgic, romantic motifs and unmistakably modern elements.”

The conductor

The conductor for the evening, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, is known for his ability to create an intense connection between musicians and audience. As both composer and conductor, he works with a sharp focus on detail and texture – a approach that makes him an ideal match for Talbot’s rich and atmospheric composition. Holloway-Nahum is originally from the United States but is now based in London. He is the founder and artistic director of the acclaimed Riot Ensemble, with which he has led a large number of world premieres.

The ensemble

Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen is a Copenhagen-based chamber ensemble founded in 1990 with a special focus on the performance of contemporary music. They are dedicated to presenting new music in new formats and interdisciplinary contexts, and are today regarded as Denmark’s leading ensemble for contemporary music. The ensemble collaborates with a wide range of leading composers, conductors, and soloists from Denmark and abroad.

Cast

Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen
Aaron Holloway, conductor