The VOC Silent Film Harmonic is an ensemble dedicated to accompanying silent films with live music since 2008. 

In The Waterloo Region Record, Martin de Groot called the ensemble “…one of the most interesting culture-related projects to have emerged here in recent years.”  

Spirits, evil ghosts, etc. have existed in folklore for thousands of years but the idea of a vampire (undead, drinks blood, needs to be killed in creative ways, etc.) only arose in the early 1700’s and the ideas were liberally used by Stoker in his 1897 novel.  However, Nosferatu is notable for introducing the notion sunlight is lethal to vampires.

Nosferatu was well received by public and critics when it was released one hundred years ago, in 1922.  But it turned out to be the only film made by the Prana Film studio - they declared bankruptcy after being successfully sued by the estate of Bram Stoker in 1925 for unauthorized reproduction of Dracula.  The court ordered all prints destroyed, but by then copies had been shipped far and wide and were impossible to fully recall. 

Nosferatu stars Max Schreck (1879-1936) in his signature role as Count Orlock and was directed by FW Murnau (1888-1931) who also directed Faust (1926) and Sunrise (1927), the latter winning a special Academy Award for “unique artistic presentation”.

Under the direction of Ted Harms, the VOC is dedicated to performing contemporary soundtracks to silent movies by taking inspiration from how they were originally presented — taking themes and using them as the basis for improvisation. VOC performances have met with enthusiastic responses from audiences for over a decade.

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