by Chris Murphree
The Sewanee Symphony Orchestra, in conjunction with the University Jazz Band, will be presenting their annual fall concert to students, faculty, staff, and community members on Halloween night. Admission is free for all the ghosts and goblins who come dressed in full costume, as well as for those who are able to provide a fright in their natural attire. Sponsored by the Department of Music and the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, the concert will feature a wide array of ominous and spooky orchestral works, ensuring that the night will entertain guests of all ages.
Founded in 1987, the University Orchestra contains a unique composition of students from The University of the South, St. Andrew’s Sewanee School, faculty, community member and professional musicians. The orchestra meets once a week to rehearse for upcoming concerts and develop the orchestra’s musical repertoire.
Under the direction of first-year conductor Cesar Leal, the orchestra will play a variety of pieces to fit the mood of the spookiest night of the year. The fourth movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique tells the story of a young artist who sees his own march to the scaffold after an opium induced dream, while Charles Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette pays respects to a strong willed puppet who lost his life in a duel. The sound of Camille Saint-Saens’s Danse Macabre is sure to provoke a few rumblings in the Sewanee graveyard as the dead will come out and perform the “dance of death” that unites the living and those no longer with us in a jovial celebration.
If you are one of the brave souls daring enough to attend, expect to be entertained as ushers from the Victorian Era guide you to your seat while Sewanee ghosts dance across the stage to the tune of talented musicians from across the Domain.