Silhouette of vampire, with elongated, claw-like fingers, standing next to a sparkler on the ground.

Nosferatu

KABOOM STUDIO ORCHESTRA
X CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY

Orchestra performing on stage with an audience watching in a dimly lit concert hall.

The film that haunted a century. The score that vanished. The orchestra that brought it back.

In April 2025, Kaboom Studio Orchestra brought Nosferatu back to life on screen and on stage.

Partnering with Cleveland Public Library and the Ohio Center for the Book, we set out to create a once-in-a-generation experience: a live performance of a reconstructed version of Nosferatu, paired with a newly reorchestrated score.

A group of musicians dressed in black and red robes, holding various musical instruments, standing in a modern, circular building with a concrete wall and blue staircase overhead.

The Lost Score

When Nosferatu premiered in 1922, it featured an original score by Hans Erdmann. That score, like much of the early horror genre, was never fully preserved. Using another of Erdmann’s pieces, Kaboom Studio Orchestra with composer Noah Horowitz used Sound Design techniques to achieve an authetic audio experience for the film.

The Work Behind the Shadows

This project wasn’t just a performance. It was a process. Our musicians took on some of the most challenging passages of silent film scoring, learning, rehearsing, and perfecting the art of playing live to picture. Every moment had to lock precisely with the film’s timing, heightening the tension, the terror, and the atmosphere.

A Public Art Collaboration

Two people dressed in black costumes, posing on a staircase. One is holding a trumpet and wearing a skeleton glove, sunglasses, and a hat. The other is taller, holding a trumpet, wearing a cape and with a confident expression.

Hosted in Cleveland Public Library’s Main Branch auditorium, the event was part of a larger celebration of horror, film, and CPL’s 100th anniversary celebration. It bridged classic cinema with modern performance and made both accessible to the public.

A young man with black hair and glasses playing a violin in an orchestra, wearing a black shirt with red accents.
Group of people wearing black robes with red designs on the back, standing on a stage facing a large screen displaying the title 'Nosferatu Live' and a silhouette of a vampire character, during a presentation or event.
A man playing a trumpet during a musical performance in a room with orange walls.
A person playing a musical instrument, possibly a xylophone or marimba, on a stage with a music stand and microphone in a dimly lit room.
Man carrying a large red and black bag while standing next to a brown upright piano against an orange wall.

NOSFERATU: A LOST SCORE REIMAGINED
Presented by Kaboom Studio Orchestra
In partnership with Cleveland Public Library and Ohio Center for the Book
April 19, 2025

Kaboom Studio Orchestra brings new life to F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu with a live performance of a new score. The film’s original 1922 music by Hans Erdmann has been lost to time. Using historical clues and Erdmann’s Fantastisch-Romantische Suite, Kaboom Studio Orchestra worked with Composer Noah Horowitz to apply Sound Design techniques, carefully aligning the music to the film.

This performance is the culmination of months of intensive rehearsal and study, with the orchestra tackling the complex art of playing live to picture. Hosted in the historic Cleveland Public Library auditorium, Nosferatu is part of a broader celebration of silent film, horror history, and the art of lost media restoration.

CREDITS

Nosferatu 1922

Screenplay 
Henrik Galeen
Based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula

Director
F. W. Murnau

______

Kaboom Studio Orchestra

Executive Director + Producer
Joe Weagraff

Creative Director + Conductor + Producer
Liza Grossman

Audio Recording + Post Audio Mixer + Co-Producer
David Kennedy

Score + Film Adaptation
Noah Horowitz

Photography
Amber Patrick

Violin
Miranda Hervey + Nathaniel Tisch

Cello
Renee Danko

Bass
Grace Cooper

Flute
Jacquie Oliveri

Oboe
Bailey Coon

Clarinet
Ashley Handwerk

Horn
Anderson Oleskiewicz

Trumpet
Christopher Hunt

Piano
Christopher Fler

Timpani + Mallets + Auxiliary
Dylan Moffit

Cleveland Public Library
and the Ohio Center for the Book

Manager/Coordinator
Don Boozer

Librarians
Alea Lytle + Tim Phillips

A/V Technician
Bob Turowski

Captioner
Catherine Young

Thank You
Facilities staff at Cleveland Public Library
for coordinating the moving parts

© Copyright Kaboom Collective
and Cleveland Public Library

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