Günter Buchwald is one of the pioneers of the silent film renaissance and is still considered to be one of the finest artists in his field. For over 25 years he has been accompanying silent films all over the world on both piano and violin, building up a repertoire of over one thousand films. Alongside his activities as a soloist he directs the Silent Movie Music Company and the Freiburger Filmharmoniker and is a violinist with a variety orchestra. His extensive stylistic repertoire enables him to display great versatility in his improvisations. Since 1984 he has accompanied silent film programmes at the Berlin Film Festival and the international festivals of Bonn, Pordenone, Zürich, Nottingham and New York. While engaged in all the above, he has also prepared silent film programmes with major orchestras (Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Zuger Sinfonietta, Filarmonica Banatul Timisoara), also as conductor, as well as a special arrangement of Berio student Betty Olivero’s music for THE GOLEM with Giora Feidman and various string quartets. He is a recipient of the „Prix européens“ of the Regiostiftung Oberrhein foundation (1995) and the International Tent Music Festival (2000). His silent film projects with internationally renowned musicians, such as the jazz guitarist Philippe Cathérine or the violinist Martha Moog, have earned him high regard, as has his orchestral score for the Japanese silent film WHAT MADE HER DO IT?, which was performed as the opening event of the 10th Tokyo International Film Festival in 1997. His scores for PARIS QUI DORT, A PROPOS DE NICE and GROSSSTADTZIGEUNER were premiered in the framework of the RomaEuropa Festival 2002 Musica XXI in Rome in October. For a number of years he has also appeared at various events in occasional partnership with Neil Brand, to sensational effect. In 2012, Buchwald received the cultural award of the city of Freiburg (Reinhold-Schneider-Preis).