The Cabinet of Dr Caligari – Silent Film with live improvised organ accompaniment

Oxford Festival of the Arts is really pleased to be able to announce a series of silent films with improvised music on the grand Eule Organ (with its unique fantastical and colourful sound-world, with 45 stops over four manuals and pedals – including Physharmonica – free reeds sounds, and a Tuba which requires its own blower, owing to the pressure required to support such a big sound!) at Magdalen College antechapel.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) is a seminal German Expressionist horror film directed by Robert Wiene. It follows Francis, who recounts how the sinister Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders in a town, utilizing jarring, twisted sets to mirror a distorted, nightmarish reality and a twist ending.

David Bednall is published by Choral Music Publishing, Oxford University Press, Boosey and Hawkes, Faber, and Novello. He is Choral Director of Clifton Cathedral, Musical Director of Bristol Bach Choir, Bristol Chamber Choir and Chew Valley Choral Society, alongside an extensive freelance career. He was previously Organ Scholar at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and then at Gloucester Cathedral, Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral, Sub Organist at Bristol Cathedral and has improvised on live radio, and performed extensively in the UK and abroad, including at Notre-Dame de Paris – and even was stunt organist on Dr Who! His compositions are widely performed, recorded, and broadcast on BBC Radio and Classic FM. David’s St Mark Passion was commissioned for the BBC Singers in 2025.

Number of discounted tickets available. Please use appropriate discount code at the checkout:
FESTIVALCONCESSIONS (Over 60s, Universal Credit, Disability, Companion)
FESTIVALSTUDENT (Under 18s, Students)