Friday, March 26, 2027, at 7:30 p.m.
The Byham Theater | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Purchase Tickets for A Night at the Symphony
George A. Romero made his stamp on cinema by making moviegoers scream, but his desire to become a filmmaker was inspired by an opera, Powell and Pressburger’s The Tales of Hoffmann.
George A. Romero’s A Night at the Symphony is a world-premiere celebration of Romero’s life, work, influences, and enduring creative legacy. Created by Pittsburgh-based composer Christian Kriegeskotte, the program uses the power of a 30-piece orchestra to explore Romero’s filmography alongside the movies and music that inspired him.
The evening will also bring recently uncovered and unrealized Romero projects to the public, allowing audiences to experience parts of his creative history that have never previously been seen or heard.
Romero’s Films Reimagined for Orchestra
Audiences will hear music associated with some of Romero’s most celebrated films, expanded and reimagined for a full symphony orchestra.
The program includes John Harrison’s iconic synthesizer music from Day of the Dead, performed in part on Harrison’s original Prophet V synthesizer, as well as Donald Rubinstein’s atmospheric compositions for Martin and Knightriders. Music from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and additional Romero productions will also be represented.
Together, these arrangements will reveal familiar films from an entirely new perspective while demonstrating the important role music played in creating their identities, emotions and unforgettable moments.
A number of special surprise guests will also take part in this one-of-a-kind celebration.
The World Premiere of Expostulations
The centerpiece of the evening will be the first public screening of Expostulations, Romero’s long-lost early film project.
Created with Richard Ricci and other members of Romero’s emerging Pittsburgh filmmaking circle, Expostulations was conceived as an anthology of short subjects accompanied by music, dialogue, and poetic narration. The filmed material was assembled without synchronized sound, but its intended soundtrack was never completed. Most of the original production was later believed to have been lost.
The surviving 21-minute film has been preserved by the George A. Romero Foundation and will be presented with a newly commissioned orchestral score performed live. Actor Terry Alexander, known to Romero audiences as John in Day of the Dead, will narrate a poem written by Romero’s longtime collaborator Richard Ricci.
Nearly six decades after it was created, this vital piece of Romero’s early history can finally be experienced as music, narration and moving images come together onstage.
About Christian Kriegeskotte
Christian Kriegeskotte is a Pittsburgh-based composer, conductor and concert producer with more than two decades of experience across film, television, video games, orchestral music and the recording industry.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music, Kriegeskotte has created arrangements and compositions performed by organizations including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Houston Symphony, New York Pops and American Composers Orchestra. His film and television credits include work connected to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Sin City, The Simpsons, Family Guy and numerous other productions.
For A Night at the Symphony, Kriegeskotte brings together Romero’s cinematic history and a full orchestral experience designed specifically for this unprecedented Pittsburgh event.
A Return to the Byham Theater
A Night at the Symphony will take place inside Pittsburgh’s historic Byham Theater, the same building where Night of the Living Dead premiered in 1968, when the venue was known as the Fulton Theater.
On March 26, 2027, audiences will return to the same location to celebrate his extraordinary career and witness the premiere of a film created before Night of the Living Dead changed cinema forever.