Kimmel Center to Screen THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, Accompanied by Organ, 5/29

The echoing, eerie sound of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts' massive pipe organ raises goosebumps when matched with the ultimate horror film experience in Silent Film with Organ: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in Verizon Hall on Friday, May 29 at 9 p.m. Presented as part of the Kimmel Center's 2014-15 Organ Season and Film @ The Kimmel, acclaimed organist Steven Ball will explore the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ's myriad colors and textures to take the audience through the twists and turns of this classic 1920s horror film. Following the film, audience members are invited to cross the line between spectator and performer by gathering onstage to experience Organ Pumps, where they can feel the organ's vibrations as it trembles through the wood floor and throughout the entire hall.

"We are thrilled to marry the art of film with the organ in this special presentation that brings alive silent film in a unique storytelling format," said Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers. "The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ is the perfect accompaniment for audiences to experience the first classic silent horror film, which introduced the twist ending to popular cinema."

Hailed by Roger Ebert as "the first true horror film," The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a diabolical silent film set at a small German town's carnival where hypnotist Dr. Caligari introduces fairgoers to Cesare, a somnambulist who predicts their future. Little do they know, once nightfall comes, Dr. Caligari awakes Cesare to unleash his evil biddings. One of the more influential silent films, Dr. Caligari is thought to have been the first German Expressionist film of its time.

Steven Ball occupies a unique place in the musical world of the organ. He is Organist and Director of Outreach at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and Artist in Residence at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. In addition to being a Fulbright Scholar, he is part of a small number of artists proficient in the genre of the theater organ ever to have achieved a doctoral degree in music, and the first to have done so with a degree in organ performance. Widely recognized for his scholarship both with classical improvisation as well as the art of silent film composition and accompaniment, he has traveled and performed extensively in both the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Ball gave the world premiere of the first concerto for theater organ and orchestra ("Once Upon a Castle" 2003 by Michael Daugherty) and was the first to showcase a silent film accompanied by a carillon.

Tickets are available for $15 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, at the Kimmel Center box office at Broad & Spruce Streets (open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).

About The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ

Unveiled in May 2006, The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, Dobson organ Op. 76, ranks as the largest mechanical-action concert hall organ in the United States with 6,938 pipes, four blowers, 300 levels of memory, 111 stops, and a total weight of app. 32 tons. The largest pipes are made of wood and are about 32 feet tall, while the smallest metal pipes are similar in size to a slender drinking straw. It is the culmination of more than six years and 52,000 man-hours of planning, construction, and voicing (the process of producing specific tones by manipulating the speech of organ pipes).

Organ programming is made possible through a donation by the Fred J. Cooper Restoration Fund as recommended by Frederick R. Haas and Daniel K. Meyer.

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