A mesmerising display of musical talent and creativity that takes one of the great masterpieces of film and turns it into the musicians' own. Incredible stuff. *****

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It is an inescapable fact, which movie buffs must accept, that one of the all-time landmarks of horror movies and cinema in general was in fact a borderline rip-off of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The people behind F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror wanted to draw as much inspiration from Stoker’s masterpiece as possible without paying for the privilege. Much was changed – Dracula became Orlok, and Whitby became Bremen – but enough was preserved to keep it recognisable. The result was a provocative and...

Live scary music at Alive: Music for Night of the Living Dead, Enchanted Tales and Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror

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'My big surprise watching Night of the Living Dead was, in fact, its poignancy.' So says Ben Singer, half of musical duo Modern Robot and perhaps one of only a handful of people ever to describe a zombie movie as poignant. In fairness, he's as surprised as anyone. 'It's not what I thought it would be, and that's a reason I now enjoy bringing this film to people so much...'

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...That sense of deep-rooted fascination is shared by Will Larsen of Tess Said So, the band behind the Nosferatu screenings. 'My brother had a poster of Nosferatu up on his bedroom w...

Will Larsen and Rasa Daukus make up the musical act Tess Said So, who this year are performing their live score of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror as the film plays. The Student got to ask them a few questions about the show and what they might like to try next.

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How long have you been playing music together?

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Will: Rasa and I met when we were music students at university. We were both interested in the same music, the same artists, the same composers. I played in her performance recitals and she in mine, but we very quickly ran out of repertoire to play for piano and percussion. There’s not that much to play beyond Béla Bartók and George Crumb, so once we left un...

Which Weigh for Ainslie and Gorman's Canberra Obscura: Metropolis, Friday 28 July, 7-11pm.

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Light over shadows dark, weight bears down on the night. 
Stretched, pulled and released.
A balance point – tipped. 

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Which Weigh is a multi-arts improvisation experiment created and performed by Australian Dance Party's CO.LAB - an eclectic group of Canberra's high-performing artists who meet weekly for an improvisation practice and cross arts exchange at Gorman Arts Centre, with support from QL2 Dance.

The artists are: Musicians - Alex Voorhoeve, Tim Wickham, Gavin Findlay, Rasa Daukus and Will Larsen; Visual artist - Nicci Haynes; Dance artists - Alison Plevey and Ol...

The 2017 Adelaide Fringe Award Ceremony was held on Sunday night following a wonderful jam-packed month of performing arts. WE are super pleased to say that we were presented the BankSA Award (Overall Outstanding Event) for Best Interactive, Film & Digital for Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror.

Another big thanks to the judges and everyone involved!

It’s not often we get the opportunity to see a cinema performance of a classic silent movie with a live musical accompaniment.  As part of the Art, Not Apart Festival for Canberra arts, the Arc Cinema at the National Film And Sound Archive presented F.W. Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionist horror movie, ‘Nosferatu’ with a new live musical accompaniment by musicians, Tess Said So.

Read the full review here.

THERE can be no doubt about it, the one day festival “Art, Not Apart” has embedded itself in the Canberra consciousness.

Part of the first year of involvement by the NFSA was the screening of FW Murnau’s 1922 German Expressionist horror film, “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror”, an unauthorised take on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”. It was not the film alone that drew the impressive crowd into the Arc Cinema, but rather the live musical performance by the duo Tess Said So – classically trained pianist Rasa Daukus and percussionist Will Larsen – of their original composition for “Nosferatu”.

Read the full review here.

We are happy to announce that we won an Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award for Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror!

Big thanks to the judges and everyone involved in putting on the Adelaide Fringe and making it such a wonderful festival. We are particularly grateful to all the staff at the Mercury Cinema for being so helpful - especially Catherine and Ryder.

Looking forward to next year!

More Preserved Sounds! Yes readers, we have yet more lovingly hand-cobbled musics from the perennially card-enclosed limited edition label, this time coming from a pianist and a percussionist. Rasa Daukus and Will Larsen, as Tess Said So, here offer up a record of exquisite post-classical meanderings mixed with slow, doom-jazz inflections to evoke a day of unsettled weather in the countryside. Should I bring my fishing rod, my mac *and* my shorts? Oh all right, then. I guess that’s improvisation for you. Or is it..?

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The beauty of the duo dynamic lies here in the tinkling, twilit narrative brought by Larsen and his array of chimes and bells, juxtaposed with the bolstering...

For this weekend, forget all about any of that derivative Hollywood fodder, and get a load of Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror. This is a show for all you goths, ghouls, and lovers of the dark arts, and you need to get your eyes and ears over this while you have the chance. This is a true gem lurking in the deep, dark, folds of the Adelaide Fringe program.

This is a brilliantly executed, new and original cinema score by Tess Said So played live to film...

Read the full review here.