October 23 marks the return engagement of former Louisville Orchestra composer-in-residence Sebastian Chang’s live performance of (Un)Silent Film: Nosferatu, which premiered last year at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. German Expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau’s undying (pun very much intended, but seriously: watch for Robert Eggers’ upcoming remake) 1922 horror classic reanimates with Chang’s innovative bespoke score for an experience that will prove–in a word–haunting.
We recently spoke with Chang over Zoom from his current home-base in Southern California while preparing to make his Louisville return, eager to talk about his favorite characters from the film and how his score is informed by the great orchestral traditions of the past. That and–of course–viral Australian breakdancing sensation Raygun.
SEBASTIAN CHANG
Louisville Film Society: So Sebastian, we’ve just entered the fall season. I’m curious, do you have any favorite Halloween traditions, cinematic or otherwise?
Chang: [laughs] I think Nosferatu has become my favorite Halloween tradition. This is the best Halloween I’ve ever had, that’s what I thought last year when I played it with the orchestra–that was when we premiered the piece. We got a lot of great feedback from the musicians, too. It was a very positive response overall.
When you were initially handed this assignment by the Louisville Orchestra in 2023, what was your response?
Chang: Well, they asked me multiple, multiple times to do this project and I didn’t want to do it at first. But eventually we came to an agreement and I started work.
What was your initial resistance to doing it?
Chang: It’s just a lot of work to write 94 minutes of orchestral music and to do it in a couple of months. It’s a pretty short amount of time, so that was part of the reason. I probably had more time than, like, the typical Hollywood composer–but a lot of them have teams of sub-composers who they pay. I don’t have that; it’s just me.
Once you were finally onboard, what did the start of the process look like?
Chang: There’s, like, 36 different film scores for this movie that have been written over the years. So I listened to snippets of a few of those, and then I just started writing my own. The role of a film score is to elucidate and make obvious to the audience what the emotional response to the film is supposed to be at that moment–and there are a couple of different ways a film composer can do that. The overriding emotion in Nosferatu is fear. And I feel plenty of that [laughs], so I just drew on my own personal experiences.
Did you have a particular favorite character to write for in the film?
Chang: I think the hero of the film is Ellen, played by Greta Schröder. She was probably my favorite character. Of course, her fate is tied in with Nosferatu so sometimes their themes appear on top of one another in the music. But each main character has a different kind of theme. There’s also a traveling theme, that goes through certain elements when the characters are going from one place to another.
Let’s go back and talk a little bit about your experience when you were the Residential Composer for the Louisville Orchestra. You’re currently based in Southern California, so how did that opportunity come about?
Chang: Yes! I was [hired as] the auxiliary pianist for the orchestra, which was a great way to stay in Louisville for two years, which I was very grateful for. So it sort of happened in conjunction with moving over to fulfill my auxiliary piano role. I auditioned for that in 2015 or 2016. I won the audition and then, since I moved to Louisville for that position, they also wanted to make me Resident Composer simultaneously. Kind of getting a real bang for your buck right there! And I really like Louisville a lot. I like the people, I like the arts scene. It’s all very cool.
When people are watching Nosferatu on October 23, what’s one thing that they should be listening for?
Chang: Any of Nosferatu’s big entrances when he’s in his haunted state. I tried to write for the orchestra in a way that would utilize all the skills that players of classical music have cultivated through these last centuries of work. All of the textures and these techniques, all of these approaches and concepts. The different ways of combining these instruments and layering them in different manners, which we’ve learned through studying the canon of classical music. When I was the auxiliary pianist with the Louisville Orchestra, I got a great opportunity to be a performer in a professional symphony orchestra, which gave me a really nice body of knowledge. Like, how does an orchestra function with all of these pieces? Was this good, was this bad, this sounds good, this sounds bad. I started to make a little list in my head of all these things. It was amazing that I got to see all this–all of the abstract things that my professors used to say to me would all of a sudden make a lot more sense.
Lastly, returning to our seasonal theme… If there was any sort of Halloween costume you could wear while conducting, what costume would you pick?
Chang: Oooh! I’d probably dress up as Raygun, the Australian Olympic breakdancer. I would be happy to play a supporting role in any Raygun reconstruction. Like, if the Los Angeles Philharmonic was going to do a 94-minute version of Raygun’s piece with her soloing in front with original choreography, please hire me for that gig. I’ll do that one!
The Louisville Orchestra’s presentation of (Un)Silent Film: Nosferatu takes place at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30pm Wednesday, October 23. LFS Members receive an exclusive discount to the event. To learn more about Sebastian Chang, check out his website.
