The Phantom of the Opera (1925 Silent/ Black & White Film) with organist Aaron Hawthorne.

Fancy watching a film where the soundtrack is composed live, in the same room as you? This year is exactly 100 years since the release of The Phantom of the Opera in 1925. International, multi-award-winning organist, Aaron Hawthorne, will be terrifying audiences with his inimitable improvisational accompaniment to this spine-chilling film. Featuring the thunderous Compton pipe organ of Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, this spooky night out is the perfect Halloween season (trick or) treat!

Film Synopsis: The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film version of Gaston Leroux's book, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The film remains most famous for Chaney's ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere. Aspiring young opera singer Christine Daaé discovers that she has a mysterious admirer intent on helping her become a lead performer. This enigmatic masked presence is Erik, also known as the Phantom, a horribly disfigured recluse who lives underneath the Paris Opera House. When the Phantom takes Christine prisoner and demands her devotion and affection, her suitor, Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, sets out to rescue her.

Artist information: Aaron Hawthorne has quickly made a name for himself as one of the UK's favourite accompanists for silent film. He has been invited to perform his improvised accompaniments across venues in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA. This is Aaron’s second UK+ silent film tour, having toured with The Phantom of the Opera (1925) in 2021, and Nosferatu in 2022, and The Hunchback of Notre Damme 2023 and last year The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which left intergenerational audiences wowed and craving more of this “not-on-Netflix” experience.