Cellist and composer set to bring 'Nosferatu' soundtrack to life tonight

MOSES LAKE — Columbia Basin Allied Arts and Grant County Fairgrounds are teaming up tonight for a special edition of Cars Under the Stars for their showing of the classic film “Nosferatu.”

Gideon Freudmann, a trained cellist, composer, songwriter and founding member of the Portland Cello Project, will perform the 1922 film’s score in conjunction with the drive-in showing. A livestream of the performance will also be available for people watching from home.

Originally scheduled to perform in Moses Lake inside a theater in February, the show was moved to tonight because of concerns over whether the show could be held under current restrictions on events.

“Since it’s a silent film, we thought it would be really fun to show it at a drive-in, and we could stream it, and it would really lend itself nicely to that,” Freudmann said. “Since the film was ‘Nosferatu,’ kind of a classic Halloween-type of movie, it would fit really well for this time of year for people to sit in their cars and attend.”

He said he started playing cello when he was eight and has been playing for the last 50 years. Starting with classical music, Freudmann said he has expanded into a variety of other genres and experimental styles. He said he has performed traditional concerts and shows, worked with dance troupes, and performed for both silent and live film soundtracks.

He said he has performed silent film scores for about 20 years, and tonight’s performance won’t be the first time Freudmann has performed the score for “Nosferatu.”

“The music that I do is kind of unusual and esoteric; particularly it’s esoteric in the cellist world,” Freudmann said. “And then doing silent movie scores is even more esoteric. Lately, it seems like that’s been drawing more attention, I’ve been getting more work from it.”

Freudmann said he never made a point to be mainstream, but it was interesting that the more niche his work became, the more interest came with it.

The first silent films he worked with were primarily German, expressionist films similar to “Nosferatu,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Metropolis.”

He said the cello is a beautiful instrument that can lend itself toward creating a dark, ominous sound.

“In Hollywood, some actors get typecast, and some instruments get typecast,” Freudmann said. “The cello has to some extent been typecast as the sad instrument.”

Freudmann said he has always enjoyed performing and really enjoys having a shared experience with the audience. While tonight’s show won’t have that same setup, with him performing from Big Bend Community College a few miles away, he said it can still be a shared experience.

“Everybody is just having to make do,” Freudmann said. “These are unusual times, so any opportunity to perform is good. I feel very lucky that I can do this, and I’m happy to get to perform.”

“Nosferatu” is a great, ominous Halloween film for this time of year, he said. The film even features a sub-plot concerning a plague that he said is “surprisingly timely.”

Tonight’s show is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Grant County Fairgrounds, part of a series.

Casey McCarthy can be reached via email at cmccarthy@columbiabasinherald.com.