By Joseph Garcia —

It was a dark and stormy night when the School of Music’s Symphony Orchestra rose from their graves to take to the stage once more. Not a single seat was empty as ghosts and goblins from all over Louisville filled the school of music’s Comstock Hall to watch the undead orchestra’s performance on All Hallow’s Eve.

Every year the orchestra works tirelessly to perfect their annual Halloween concert, which has become one of the most anticipated orchestra concerts of the year.

The spooky selection of music ranged from classical pieces like Danse Macabre and The Death of Ase to recognizable movie themes such as Jurassic Park and Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter. These haunting pieces were not all that kept audiences chained to their seats, as short skits were also woven into the performance.

Each section of the orchestra was tasked with coming up with their own skit to perform as their section walked to their seats on stage. Skits ranged from a humorous take on the classic Mystery Gang, a Bach interlude that was cut off by a group of cool kids, and the trash wood winds. No seriously, the woodwind section jokingly dressed up as trash bags.

Even the student conductors had their fair share of fun dressing up and doing a skit towards the end of the performance where each conductor killed off the previous to take control of conducting the final piece.

Sophomore and cellist Roman Wood has been part of the Symphony Orchestra for two years and this was his second time performing in the Halloween concert.

“The skits are always really fun. The entire section gets to decide what we want to do and then we all work off each other to make it happen. There’s a lot of creative freedom and the skits are pretty funny,” Wood said.

Orchestra concerts take a while to prepare for as is, but with the added theatrics, rehearsal becomes more than just practicing music.

“We started working on the music right after our opening concert and with each rehearsal we threw in more and more skits,” Wood added.

For many U of L students, this concert is one exciting, free way to celebrate Halloween.

This was sophomore Veronica Espinosa’s first year seeing the Halloween concert.

“It was fantastic! My favorite piece was the one from Harry Potter because they did it so well. I definitely plan on going again next year,” Espinosa said.

If you missed out on this haunting experience. No worries, the next Symphony Orchestra concert is Nov. 7, so don’t miss your chance to see the work these talented students are doing.

Photo by Joseph Garcia / The Louisville Cardinal