News

Dear Friends of The BQE Project,

I am pleased to announce the world premier of a new score to Paul Wegener's 1920 film The Golem, performed live by the BQE Project.  Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein Myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema.  This beautiful DVD version has been restored by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna at the laboratories of L'Immagine Ritrovata. The score, which was commissioned by Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, reveals an amalgam of influences on Jewish music (including Sephardic, Greek, Arabic) which I've incorporated into my own compositional approach.  The ensemble will feature a palette of exotic instruments from middle eastern drums to mandolin. I hope you can join us for this exciting performance in the newly-renovated Whitman Theater.  See you at the movies!

- Tom Nazziola

The Brooklyn Center has commissioned composer/musician Tom Nazziola (Musical Director of The BQE Project) to compose an original motion picture score for the 1920 silent classic DER GOLEM.  The BQE Project has become synonymous with creating imaginative, provocative scores for classic silent films and even more exiting, for early sound films like Von Sternberg's THE BLUE ANGEL which, because of the primitive nature of sound technology at the time, has music accompanying only the opening credits.  The BQE Project uses this happenstance as an opening in which to inject fresh, live music content with compelling results.  

- The Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Thanks again to all who were able to attend our premier of live, original music to Buster Keaton's "Battling Butler" at Lincoln Center this past November. I'm pleased to announce that we'll be performing the same program in upstate New York this February. Our first concert (Feb. 1st) will take place at the Dryden Theater/George Eastman House. This is a significant performance as many of our ensemble members are either from Rochester or have graduated from the Eastman School of Music. The second show (Feb. 2nd) will take place at Cornell Cinema/Cornell University which is a long-standing favorite venue of the BQE Project. We've performed several programs here and are always delighted to return.

- Tom Nazziola

The Golem

What the Critics Are Saying

"The BQE Project's innovative mix of original musical themes and enhanced live accompaniment fills the theater with an energy and a spirit that makes classic cinema come to life in whole new ways."

 - Steven Rea,The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The BQE Project meshed seam-lessly with the original soundtrack to 'Blue Angel', providing a sensitive live accompaniment to Marlene Dietrich's recorded voice and breathing new life into the classic film.  A true tour deforce!"

 - David Latulippe, WNYC radio