Postponed!
Due to the current situation (Coronavirus) the concert on March 22nd will be postponed to an undetermined date. Subscription cards and tickets remain valid.


The famous pianist Orlac loses both hands in a train accident. As a result, the hands of a murderer are sewn onto him. But what does it mean, as a piano virtuoso, to receive the hands of a criminal? Orlac, whose artistic identity is completely shaken, becomes panicky and afraid.

As part of its 4th subscription concert in the Neubau of the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Basel Sinfonietta presents a milestone in the history of film and the art of expressionism, between horror and science fiction: Robert Wiene's cult movie "Orlac's Hands" from 1924. Music from 2017 accompanies the silent film. The German composer Johannes Kalitzke has written a new moving music for the old moving pictures. Film and music represent Orlac's psyche. His head is the inner life of the piano. Cinema in the head in a double sense.

Sunday, March 22, 7pm
Kunstmuseum Basel | Neubau

Introduction 6.15pm

Movie with Live-Music
Robert Wiene (1873–1938) / Johannes Kalitzke (*1959)
«Orlacs Hands» (Swiss premiere)

Silent movie by Robert Wiene (1924) with music by Johannes Kalitzke for strings and three pianists (2017)

Johannes Kalitzke Direction
Basel Sinfonietta

Conrad Veidt as pianist Orlac in Robert Wiene's movie «Orlacs Hands» (1924).

Conrad Veidt as pianist Orlac in Robert Wiene's movie «Orlacs Hands» (1924).