‘Der Golem’ comes alive at the Mahaiwe

On Sunday, Nov. 2, the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington will present a screening of Paul Wegener’s “Der Golem”(1920), accompanied by a live klezmer-infused score.

Conductor Jonathan Yates transforms traditional Yiddish folk melodies and Jewish liturgical music into a rich, cinematic soundscape performed live by clarinetist Saerom Kim and the Avalon String Quartet.

Wegener’s German Expressionist landmark film tells the haunting 16th-century legend of a clay figure brought to life to protect Prague’s Jewish community — only to turn on its creators. The film was a sensation on release, influencing works from operettas to the 1931 cult classic “Frankenstein.”

Regarding the relevance of the work, in a recent phone interview Yates said, “The reason movies like ‘Der Golem’ stay so relevant is that we, as humans, are quite capable of creating all sorts of monsters that turn on us. In terms of how it relates to modern technology, you need look no further than a movie like ‘1984,’ in some ways very much in the same genre as ‘Der Golem,’ for a vision of how AI might come back to haunt us!”

Israeli-born composer Betty Olivero’s evocative score heightens the film’s drama with color, urgency, and nuance, creating an unforgettable, fully immersive experience for both eyes and ears.

About the score and the challenges of producing it live, Yates said, “The process of putting together Betty’s inventive and colorful score with the movie is challenging, but very fulfilling. A lot of film composers use a click track, so that every moment lines up exactly with their score, but Betty’s approach is freer. Though the timings and scenes are notated in the score, it’s the musician's responsibility to make sure it all fits, which gives us more latitude in our interpretation. There are also moments in the work in which there is no music for the film so that you can appreciate the pure expressivity of the visual language, and times when the film is paused so you can just be invested in the music. While the music is extremely evocative and interacts in a thrilling way with the movie, it is more of a complete art piece than a traditional film score — and we think that makes it even more exciting.”

Violist Anthony Devroe added, “This is a return performance to Close Encounters With Music for the Avalon Quartet, but a debut performance for myself and Saerom, and we’re all just so thrilled and grateful to get to share this very special project. It’s a unique work — the combination of a masterpiece of a film with an inspired original score, written more than 70 years after the movie-- it promises to be a very special afternoon.”

After each performance, audiences are invited to an “Afterglow” reception to meet the artists and mingle with fellow music lovers. Select concerts will also be available online, extending CEWM’s reach to listeners far beyond the Berkshires.

Tickets are available at mahaiwe.org or by calling 413-528-0100.