John Leman Riley in conversation with conductor Frank Strobel

A conversation between film expert and musicologist John Leman Riley and leading conductor Frank Strobel, ahead of a historic screening of October two days later at the Barbican accompanied by a full symphony orchestra playing Oliver Meisel’s original 1928 score that Frank will conduct. 

Leman Riley and Strobel will be exploring the history and continuing relevance of Soviet film music, its innovation, creation and suppression.

Sergei Eisenstein’s 1927 cinematic masterpiece, October: Ten Days that Shook the World is one of the most iconic films of the 20th century: it is an epic recreation of the events that led to the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917. On the basis of the success of Battleship Potemkin, the film was commissioned by the Soviet government to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Revolution. The film occupies a unique place in Eisenstein’s work: its powerful, highly personal and controversial propagandist images led to widespread banning, with the first screenings in Britain only in 1935.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to witness a conversation between esteemed musicologist and film expert John Leman Riley, and conductor Frank Strobel who has worked in the fields of Soviet and Russian music and film of this period for many years.