Zorada Temmingh - Phantom of the Opera

After the success of her musical improvisation on the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Zorada Temmingh returns to the Festival with Phantom of the Opera.

The 1925 American silent horror film is an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House. Temmingh’s organ accompaniment of the film is based on music from the 19th century opera and ballet repertoire and uses well-known operatic motifs to depict themes and characters in the film.

One of South Africa’s foremost organists, Temmingh pulls out all the stops to portray the emotional intensity of this black and white classic.