In 2017, the Metropolis Orchester Berlin became the first professional cinema orchestra to enter the Berlin cinema and music scene since the silent film era. Founded by conductor Burkhard Götze and silent film enthusiasts from Berlin, the ensemble is shaping the capital’s silent film scene, setting standards in the field of vibrant cultivation of silent film and heralding the renaissance of a forgotten musical genre – cinema music. New compositions are also created exclusively for the orchestra.
After establishing a regular series of silent film screenings at Berlin’s Babylon cinema in 2017 and 2018, Metropolis Orchester Berlin can now be enjoyed at Berlin venues such as the Theater im Delphi, the Zeughauskino, and the Heimathafen Neukölln. In September 2019, the orchestra made its debut at the Zoo Palast on the occasion of “100 Years of Film History at the Zoo.” The orchestra regularly receives invitations from major film festivals such as the Filmfest Braunschweig, the Film+Musikfest Bielefeld, the Filmkunstfest MV in Schwerin, and the International Silent Film Festival in Bonn.
Last year, Metropolis Orchester Berlin opened the UFA Film Nights with Florian C. Reithner’s new composition of a film score for DER BERG DES SCHICKSALS (MOUNTAIN OF DESTINY). This year the orchestra accompanies Max Mack’s WO IST COLETTI? (WHERE IS COLETTI?) at the UFA Film Nights with a new composition of the film music by Richard Siedhoff.
Since 2008, Richard Siedhoff has accompanied more than 300 silent film classics with his own compositions and improvisations on the piano. In addition to countless small events, he is a regular guest at the Stummfilmtage Bonn, the Filmmuseum München, the Zeughauskino Berlin, and numerous silent film events in Germany and abroad. He has already recorded some of his music for DVD releases. Siedhoff also increasingly writes silent film accompaniments for chamber ensembles and orchestras.
Richard Siedhoff is Composer in Residence of the Metropolis Orchester Berlin. In 2020 he received the inaugural German Silent Film Award for his reconstruction of the original symphonic music for DER GOLEM, WIE ER IN DIE WELT KAM (THE GOLEM: HOW HE CAME INTO THE WORLD), which was shown at the UFA Film Nights in 2014.
