November, 2024
Dracula Live in Concert with Chicago Philharmonic
Event Details
U.S. Premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Concert
Saturday, November 9, 2024
at The Auditorium
6:30 pm: Pre-concert panel discussion
7:30 pm: Concert
Chicago Philharmonic
Chicago Chamber Choir
Diego Navarro Conductor
Cheryl Wilson Soloist, Love Song for a Vampire
Victoria Schemenauer Soprano
Elena Hensel Alto
FilmConcert produced by Fimucité and FMF (Krakow Film Music Festival) in cooperation with Sony Pictures and Robert Townson Productions.
Distribution and Artistic Supervision by Europäische FilmPhilharmonie – EFPI
Music Composed and Orchestrated by Wojciech Kilar
Arranged by Thomas Bryła with permission from G. Schirmer, Inc.
Film Directed and Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, licensed with permission from Sony Pictures
This movie is Rated R for sexuality and horror violence.
Mark your calendars for November 9, 2024 as Chicago Philharmonic performs the U.S. Premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Concert! Experience Bram Stoker’s Dracula like NEVER before with Polish master composer Wojciech Kilar’s chillingly thrilling score as the film is projected above the orchestra in HD on a large screen.
In 1992, two decades after THE GODFATHER (1972), Francis Ford Coppola was again looking for an European composer to write the music of his new film. According to Coppola’s diary, the expectations were gigantic:
“Here we go, I’m going again, and it’s DRACULA, it’s going to be Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. I have to do a lot of listening to music because I want to have a truly great composer. I want the score for DRACULA to be like a Prokofiev score for Eisenstein. I want it to be performed by symphonies. I want great music. Not just theater music, but great music.”
— Dracula Director, Francis Ford Coppola, February 15, 1991
Kilar’s music was truly a masterpiece: a cinematic cantata for choir and orchestra that was completely different to anything heard in a Hollywood film before. Genuinely theatrical, his music finds its element in concert halls when played live-to-picture. It is also inseparable from Coppola‘s sensual conception of fantasy and horror, which owes much to masters like F.W. Murnau and Jean Cocteau.
Coppola’s cinematographic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel became a box office hit in 1992, crowned by three Academy Awards. Its fresh and bold conceptual energy turned the movie into the most influential vampire film in decades—a film whose opulence and sense of spectacle triggered a whole new wave of contemporary horror films. One of the film’s strengths was coming back to Bram Stoker’s original novel instead of adapting the more popular theater play from the 1920s.
Starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves and Sadie Frost, the film became a box office hit and gathered three Academy Awards. It remains as the most influential vampire film and score in decades – and resurrects now live in concert!
Celebrating Polish Master Composer, Wojciech Kilar: Pre-Show Talk
Join us for a special pre-show chat before Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Concert! Available only to Dracula in Concert attendees, this FREE pre-show talk dives into Kilar’s powerful score and the influence of Polish classical music in film. Featuring special guests LaRob K. Rafael, Prof. Beata Bolesławska, Magdalena Miśka-Jackowska, Dr. AE Stevenson, and Aleksander Dębicz. Plus, we’re honored to showcase the work of photographer Bartek Barczyk, whose intimate portraits of Kilar provide a unique glimpse into the Maestro’s world. Don’t miss this rare chance to explore the genius behind Dracula’s iconic music before the show!
Preshow event: 6:30-7:15 PM
Concert: 7:30-10:30 PM
This event is free exclusively for attendees of Dracula in Concert. Must have a ticket to the show to attend.
SOLD OUT: VIP Vampire Experience with Svengoolie!
Your favorite Chicago-native horror host, Svengoolie, will open the show for the U.S. Premiere of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Concert. This fall, Saturday, November 9 at Chicago’s very own, Auditorium Theatre.
Fans will also have the opportunity to add on a special VIP Vampire Experience… A fun pre-show Meet & Greet with Svengoolie himself! Act fast—limited tickets available for this exclusive pre-show event.
Preshow event: 6:30-7:30 PM
Concert: 7:30-10:30 PM
Check out the trailer!
Dracula’s Backstory | Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Introduction to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula” (1992)
About Diego Navarro
Diego Navarro is a Spanish awarded film music composer and conductor. He premiered his first work in public at the age of 13 and conducted his first orchestra concert at the age of 21. Born in 1972 in Tenerife, Navarro enjoys a well-deserved international prestige. Currently, he is considered one of the most relevant voices in film music in Spain. He works for both film and television. His filmography includes successful titles such as “Capture the Flag” (Enrique Gato), winner of a Goya and multiple other awards, “The Photographer of Mauthausen” (Mar Targarona), the NETFLIX original “The Wasteland” (David Casademunt), or the also awarded thriller “The Cucko´s Curse”, to name a few. He has received national and international nominations and awards such as the Best Music, for his score for the thriller “The Cuckoo´s Curse”, at the 24th edition of the Costa del Sol International Fantastic Film Festival, the nomination for the prestigious “World Soundtrack Awards” (World Film Music Awards) awarded by the Ghent Film Festival for drama “Passage to Dawn” (Andreu Castro), or the double nomination for the IFMCA AWARDS (International Association of Film Music Critic Awards) for Capture the Flag”. “The Photographer of Mauthausen” obtained two nominations for best orchestral score at the 11th Gaudí Awards and the 2nd Spanish Audiovisual Music Awards, respectively. His most recent works have received great reviews from the specialised press, highlights being the films “Two” (Mar Targarona) and NETFLIX original “The Wasteland” (David Casademunt). Both films were in the Worldwide Top 5 the streaming platform in January 2022, and “The Wasteland” became the most viewed non-English speaking film in the world on NETFLIX during the second week of January, becoming quite the phenomenon. Two animation movies, both international coproductions with big distribution, are coming up with a theatrical release in cinemas this December 2024: Super Klaus and Black Butterflies. In 2025, and returning to the animation genre, a highlight of the composer’s agenda is feature film “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope” (Elio Quiroga and Beñat Beitia), an international co-production (Spain – Chile – Argentina) that tells the epic tale of the French ship that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda chartered to help 2,500 Spaniards in their escape from the civil war towards Chile. His soundtracks and conducting performances have been released by prestigious Hollywood film music record label Varèse Sarabande, indispensable within the genre, Quartet Records and MovieScore Media, among others. In his role as a conductor, maestro Navarro has conducted a great number of world class orchestras, as well as countless important and historical film music concerts. He has had the pleasure of working with great masters of the genre such as Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Elliot Goldenthal, etc. Likewise, he has an extensive cinematographic repertoire conducting all the classics masters of the genre, to great praise from both national and international audiences and critics. Navarro is the director and founder of FIMUCITÉ, the Tenerife International Film Music Festival (www.fimucite.com) which, in July 2023, successfully celebrated its 17th edition. The event sets an international standard in the world of film music and is, today, the oldest festival in the world in its genre. Maestro Navarro has established himself as one of the main promoters of music written for the screen on the international scene, becoming one of the most renowned conductors in the field of music for film. The award-winning composer and conductor combines his career writing music for film and television with directing film music concerts at FIMUCITÉ and other film music festivals around the world. Diego Navarro is a member of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, Musimagen, SGAE, World Soundtrack Awards Academy. In 2019 he was invited to be part of the European Film Academy (EFA). July 2024, he was named a member of the AMPAS (American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences), renowned the world over for their annual awards, the Oscars.
About Chicago Chamber Choir
The mission of the Chicago Chamber Choir is to create experiences that engage our community in high-quality choral art. Our vision is to be Chicago’s preeminent avocational choral ensemble through diverse and innovative programming, excellence in artistry, and community enrichment.
The Chicago Chamber Choir’s 40 singers come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are professional musicians, others are teachers, and still others have careers in fields as diverse as law and medicine. They are united through their passion for world-class choral singing.
The choir’s repertoire is diverse and expansive; each program carefully curated, drawing from the immense collection of choral music throughout history and around the world. CCC has a special interest in contemporary choral music and how it speaks to the lives and values of modern singers and audiences.
ORCHESTRA SPONSORS:
