Frankenstein with the Nashville Symphony

The Nashville Symphony brings Frankenstein to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Tuesday, October 27, at 7:30 PM. It's one of those film-score nights they do fairly often, where the orchestra plays live to a movie on the big screen rather than playing from a recording.

The movie is the 1931 Frankenstein, and there's a bit of history to it that makes the whole thing work. When it first came out, it didn't have a score, and for nearly 70 years it was shown without a single note. Composer Michael Shapiro eventually wrote a live score for it, and that's what the symphony will be playing. It's become a global thing since then, performed by groups as different as the Los Angeles Opera and Milan's Orchestra Sinfonica, and The New York Times called Shapiro's work a "rare melodic gift."

On the night, the Nashville Symphony performs the score live in the hall while the film runs on the screen, so the music is happening right there in the room instead of coming out of the speakers. Michael Shapiro conducts the performance himself. If you've seen the movie before, this is a different way to experience it; if you haven't, it's a good chance to catch it with a full orchestra backing it.

The show is Tuesday, October 27, at 7:30 PM at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.