Musik & FIlm: Kantorei St. Nikolai vertont Stummfilmklassiker Der Golem und wie er in die Welt kam

On Saturday, July 4, 2026, at 10 p.m., the St. Nikolai Choir will provide a live musical accompaniment to the silent film “The Golem: How He Came into the World.” Film historian Hans-Michael Bock from CineGraph – Hamburg Center for Film Research e. V. will provide an introduction to the film and its production history at 9:30 p.m.

Made in 1920 by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese, the film is considered one of the most significant works of German Expressionist cinema. The story is set in 16th-century Prague: Rabbi Judah Löw creates the Golem from clay to protect the Jewish community from impending expulsion. However, the project spirals out of control.

The St. Nikolai Choir will provide a live musical accompaniment to the silent film with a soundtrack specially composed by Cantor Anne Michael, which draws on the narrative’s historical and cultural references. The singers of the St. Nikolai Choir convey the film’s emotions in real time, utilizing their voices in all their facets. They react immediately to the action on screen and combine predetermined musical elements and compositions by John Cage, Phil Glass, and Meredith Monk, among others, with improvisational passages. Together with organist Patrycja Olszewska and percussionist Knud Feddersen, they create an interpretation that interweaves image and sound.

The performance in Hamburg is also connected to a trip by the St. Nikolai Choir to its sister city, Prague: At the invitation of the Goethe-Institut, the singers will perform the film on October 19, 2026, at the German-language film festival DAS FILMFEST.