Boston Pops Celebrate Halloween with Organ Wunderkind Brett Miller Accompanying Horror Classic 'Nosferatu' on Wednesday

There is no keeping "Nosferatu" dead. Some 102 years after this horror classic, directed by F.W. Murnau, was released in Germany, a remake is scheduled for a holiday release – and not Halloween, but this Christmas with a heavily prostheticized Bill Skarsgård as the titular character in Robert Eggers' redo.

The original film, released in 1922, also has legs (so to speak), especially this time of the year with special screenings turning up to show why it remains the granddaddy of vampire movies. Even upon its release, its connection with "Dracula," the popular novel-turned-stage hit in the 1920s, was so apparent that the widow of Bram Stoker, who wrote the novel, successfully sued for copyright infringement. Her win almost led to the destruction of all prints; fortunately, some copies survived. But what makes it different from "Dracula," is that Nosferatu (or Count Orlok played by German actor Max Schreck) doesn't take a recognizable human form such as Bela Lugosi took in the stage play and film; rather Nosferatu's features resemble that of a rodent with deadly pale, alabaster-white skin. His is a scary visage and iconic horror image that has found its way into popular culture, most notably in 1979 in the television adaptation of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" in which the villain is meant to look like Nosferatu; and a recurring character, named Count Orlik, on "SpongeBob Square Pants," which is as close as many under 35 have ever been to Murnau's scary creation.

This week as part of the Boston Pops' wide-ranging Halloween programming, the film will be shown in Symphony Hall on Wednesday, October 30 at 7:30pm, but not with the Pops playing the orchestral score; but rather organ soloist Brett Miller standing in for orchestra and playing it on Symphony Hall's famous instrument – the Aeolian-Skinner organ – whose pipes sit prominently on the room's back wall. In 1949, the organ replaced the hall's first, built in 1900 by George S. Hutchings, because its heavy sound fell out of favor. In 2003, the organ received a complete overhaul by Foley-Baker Inc. to further enhance its sound.

The Pops Halloween programming also includes two screenings of Tim Burton's "The Nighttime Before Christmas" on Thursday and Saturday with Keith Lockhart conducting the Pops in Danny Elfman's score in Symphony Hall, 7:30pm. And in conjunction with "Dia de los Muertos" ("Day of the Dead"), a major event in Mexico, the Pops will present "Celebrating Día de Muertos – The Day of the Dead" on Friday night at 7:30pm in Symphony Hall. According to a press release, "The Boston Pops' inaugural Day of the Dead concert sets out on an exploration of the rich and varied offerings from the world of Mexican music: nationally flavored works from contemporary Mexican composers like Gabriela Ortiz and Arturo Rodríguez, popular and traditional song associated with Día de Muertos, and the vibrant folk styles of mariachi and son jarocho, in collaboration with local artists Veronica Robles and Zaira Meneses." For ticket information to these concerts, follow this link.

Miller will be coming to Symphony Hall to cap a busy month of these live-to-film performances, which not only include "Nosferatu," but also "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "Phantom of the Opera" in concert halls throughout the country. At the young age of 22, Miller has become one of the leading proponents of these interactive concerts of silent classics. Currently studying to be a conductor at the Eastman School of Music, Miller spoke to EDGE about how at the age of 10 his parents took him to see the silent version of "The Phantom of the Opera" with organ accompaniment, and he immediately asked if he could learn how to play the instrument.

EDGE: This time of the year must be your busy season...

Brett Miller: My October gets so busy, like these, you know, the past two weeks is, you know, just bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, and then, you know, November, it's dead silent. And so, you know, it kind of just gets really packed all at once. But it's all good. It's good busy.

EDGE: "Phantom of the Opera" was where it began for you, correct? You saw a screening of it when you were about 10 and became obsessed with it?

Brett Miller: I saw it at the University of Pennsylvania, Irvine Auditorium. And I was hooked. I mean, it's, it was such a unique experience. And my first time seeing a silent film with a live accompaniment. To hear the organ roaring away during the film was life changing.

EDGE: This led you to ask your church organist if you could learn to play the organ?

Brett Miller: I grew up outside of Philadelphia, and we had a small neighborhood church. I asked the organist if I could take lessons, and she agreed. And then, a family friend of ours knew the film accompanist for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and put me in contact with him. He gave me a couple lessons and introduced me to other people with whom I still in touch with, and we just talk about Silent films and how to accompany them. So it's a very small community, but it's, it's kind of funny how, you know, close knit it still is some twelve years later.

EDGE: And you being from a generation for whom silent films must seem very remote. What was it about them that affected you so?

Brett Miller: I think the biggest thing is that they're great films. I admire what these filmmakers were doing. And at the time, they were in uncharted territory, essentially. Look at "Nosferatu," what they were achieving from a cinematic standpoint is amazing. But what really hooked me is how my playing connects the audience to the film. I have this massive instrument in front of me that is really a tool to communicate to the audience. What really fascinates me is that I have seen many, many silent films played this way and every single one has a different interpretation. So it's a really, you know, you have this blank canvas to basically work with, and it's just really fun. It's a really fun thing.

EDGE: Did you write your own score?

Brett Miller: No. It is actually based on the original score from 1922. It was written by a German composer named Hans Erdmann. But the wife of Bram Stoker, who wrote the original "Dracula," sued the filmmakers for copyright infringement and she won. Materials related to the film were destroyed, including prints of the film and the score.Some five years later, Erdmann wrote a book in which he threw in themes from the film along with descriptions of what they are meant to accompany, such a bats flying around a castle on the hill. His score was reconstructed from these notes. It is interesting history how that score has survived after all the prints of the film were thought destroyed.