Double Dose of Halloween Concerts

Posted: October 21, 2009

The Mount Holyoke College Orchestra will play an afternoon and evening concert on campus this Halloween. 

On Saturday, October 31, at 2 pm the Mount Holyoke College Orchestra will host a Halloween party for young people and families. The program will feature famous music on scary themes including Night on Bald Mountain, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and music from Phantom of the Opera.

The afternoon concert will take place in Chapin Auditorium in Mary Woolley Hall.

Eric Benjamin, director of the MHC Orchestra, describes the concert as "a really good Halloween party with an orchestra in the room. There will be fun music to listen to, some games, and a costume parade--so everyone wear your costume!"

Benjamin has worked professionally as a conductor and music educator and his educational concerts and radio programs have been praised by educators, parents, and kids and by the Orchestra League of America and Fine Arts Radio International.

Admission to this concert is $1, and only a quarter for children age 12 and under.

After Darkness Falls

"Things That Go Bump in the Night" is the title of a special Halloween concert presented by the Mount Holyoke College Orchestra at 8 pm on Saturday, October 31, at Abbey Chapel.

The program will be much the same as that from earlier in the day, but, taking advantage of the fine organ in Abbey Chapel, a special feature of the evening concert will be the reknowned Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by music faculty member Larry Schipull.

Another MHC music faculty member, Gary Steigerwalt, will perform a rarely heard work for solo piano titled The Banshee by the maverick American composer Henry Cowell.

"It's for piano, but the player never touches the keyboard to perform this evocative piece," Benjamin said. "The title refers to a female spirit from Celtic mythology."

The audience is invited to come in costume (as the performers will) and to join in on a sing-along arrangement of Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London.

Admission to the evening concert is $1 at the door. Both concerts are free, open to the public, and accessible.

For more information, call 413-538-2306.

Related Links:

Music Calendar

Music at MHC