European Film Philharmonic

The European FilmPhilharmonie is a concert and production company for film music . It was founded in 2000 by Frank Strobel and Beate Warkentien and is based in Berlin . Under the artistic direction of Frank Strobel, she continuously researches original music and new scoring as well as restored film copies. The aim of her work is the sustainable anchoring of film music works of art in international cultural and concert life.

Film concert and film music concert

The core of the work of the European FilmPhilharmonic are the film and film music concerts. It has a catalog with more than 100 titles. A film concert is a live orchestral performance synchronized with the projection of a film. These include the popular Chaplin Classics ( Gold Rush , Modern Times , City Lights , The Circus ), the German Classics ( Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror , The Nibelungs , The Adventures of Prince Achmed, etc.) and the Russian Classics ( Battleship Potemkin , The new Babylon , The last days of St. Petersburg etc.). The film music concerts are purely symphonic concert presentations of various excerpts from film music.

Metropolis

The restoration project of Metropolis began with a surprising find in Buenos Aires in 2008 . A version of the film that had been forgotten for a long time and was unique in the world was discovered, which contained scenes previously believed to be lost. The newly inserted parts mean that Metropolis (D 1927/2010) now differs from the earlier, significantly shorter version from 2001. They give the story a new balance and allow the human action motifs to emerge more clearly against the breathtaking science fiction backdrop.

In the reconstruction of the montage of the premiere version, the music played a decisive role: the original score by Gottfried Huppertz was one of the most important sources. With its memorable and inventive leitmotifs, Huppertz's music is an integral part of Metropolis. As precisely as the music is composed for the film, it creates a complementary (emotional) space for what Fritz Lang constructs in a film. A new edition of the sheet music was created under the direction of Frank Strobel , which is strictly based on the original manuscripts preserved in the Filmmuseum Berlin .

On 12 February 2010, Metropolis 27/10 as part of the 60th Berlinale live simultaneously in Berlin Friedrichstadtpalast of Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Frank Strobel and in the Frankfurt Alte Oper from Braunschweig State Orchestra under Helmut Imig premiered.

Matrix Live - Film in Concert

In 2010, the European FilmPhilharmonie, under the direction of Frank Strobel and with the support of the film composer Don Davis , brought the 1999 science fiction film Matrix to the concert hall for the first time . Don Davis' composition adapts to the complexity of the film Matrix: Minimalist and polytonal techniques meet dissonant layers of sound and outbursts in "classic" styles. The different sound spaces - orchestra, prepared instruments, dialogues, sound effects - are brought into relation to one another and, above all, the music is brought to the fore. The music, which gives the images even more power, now merges with the film to form a total work of art. Matrix Live - Film in Concert was premiered with the NDR Radiophilharmonie at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2010. In October 2011 the project will be performed in the Royal Albert Hall .

Film music production

Since its inception, the company has also specialized in film music production. She organizes and supervises the recording of music for film productions. Depending on the project, it provides the orchestra (orchestra, choir, etc.), the conductor, the orchestral material, the recording location, the recording technology and the sound engineer. The most recent film music productions include Die Päpstin with the music by Marcel Barsotti, Böseckendorf with the music by Jörg Rausch, Empire of Silver with the music by Cong Su, Han Li and Seikou Nagaoka and Buddenbrooks with the music by Hans-Peter Ströer .

Orchestra association

The European FilmPhilharmonie brings together various German concert and music theater orchestras in its orchestral association, which was founded especially for film music productions. These include: