The dark classic horror film The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian and Edward Sedgwick, will be screened during this year’s NFM Organ Cinema series. A hundred years after its premiere, the tragic tale of fear, revulsion and love inspiration will be enriched by the performance of the French artist Paul Goussot, valued in particular for his masterful organ improvisations.

In the sumptuous building of the Paris Opera, a ghost named Erik is hiding – a disfigured musical genius with a terrifying appearance, whose favorite pastime is to scare artists performing on stage. During one of the performances, a certain capricious opera diva is replaced by the charming young Christine. With her performance, she captivates both the audience gathered that evening and the titular phantom, who from that moment on wants above all to win the favour of the charming artist. However, Viscount Raoul de Chagny, who is becoming increasingly involved in a love relationship with the singer, stands in his way. Erik soon kidnaps her directly to his underground kingdom to confess his love – unrequited, as he will soon discover.

The literary prototype of the film was the famous novel of the same title by Gaston Leroux, first published as a serial novel in Le Gaulois in 1909 and 1910. The author was supposed to have drawn inspiration for the creation of The Phantom of the Opera from rumors about a ghost haunting the famous Opéra Garnier de Paris, an iconic hallmark of the city. The Universal Production studio film went down in history as the first and one of the most famous of many later screen adaptations of the phantom story. The musical background of the silent film masterpiece will be provided by Paul Goussot, a professor at the Haute école de musique de Genève. Over the years, the artist has been distinguished with numerous awards at international improvisation competitions, including those in Luxembourg, St Albans in England, and Haarlem in the Netherlands.