A pair of miracle glasses that make the dead appear alive, a duel with an opponent without a shadow, deadly medical advice and three mysterious women: Max Neufeld's 1923 silent film ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ is based on eerie stories by the Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann, who was nicknamed ‘Gespenster Hoffmann’.

As a commissioned work for ‘200 Years Konzerthaus Berlin’, Johannes Kalitzke has written a new composition for the restored version of the film with his ‘Beethoven Variations for Orchestra’. The Konzerthausorchester gave the world premiere in September 2021 in the Great Hall. As part of the “Now! Laissez vibrer” festival at the Philharmonie Essen, it will once again perform the work as a film orchestra under the direction of the composer