Bringing a different side to Athens’ Halloween, Ohio University’s School of Music will be hosting its annual performance, “Hallowpalooza VI – An Arm and Allegro.”
The concert will feature many student music ensembles, including Singing Men of Ohio and Women’s Choral, jazz combo and chamber groups. Steven Huang, director and producer for the event and associate professor in the College of Fine Arts School of Music, said the University Symphony Orchestra will open and close the event. Huang said he thinks it’s important to get as many musicians involved as possible.
“I thought it was a great idea to do a Halloween concert in which we involved as many different groups of musicians from the school of music, so it’s kind of a collage concert,” Huang said. “It’s also one of the few times that our school get’s together not only to celebrate one group performing, but many different groups performing.”
The musicians will be in costumes, and playing music from popular movies such as Harry Potter, television shows, video games and a piece “Accompanying a Cat,” but will still have classic pieces as well, including the piece “Mars” from Gustav Holst’s arrangement The Planets, Huang said.
“Every year it’s a big mix,” he said. “There’s always some classical music, but … usually classical music that is done in a more creative way (like) through costumes. … And this year, I don’t want to give away too many surprises, but we will be doing music from television, … actually this year a lot people are doing video game music, which is interesting.”
Elizabeth Braun, director of Athens Community Music School, has arranged to provide buses to local schools in the area to come and see a special presentation of the show at 10 a.m., offering a $100 stipend to offset costs of busing in third through sixth graders. She said she thinks it’s important to reach out, not only to Athens City Schools but to surrounding schools as well, bringing in about 1,500 kids.
“Those kids (not in town), I think it’s even more important in some ways because they’re even less likely to have been on campus, number one, and number two, heard a concert like this, live,” Braun said.
But for OU students, it’s a great opportunity to open minds about what the School of Music is and what musicians in general have to offer when they come and see the show, Braun said.
“For the college students, I think this is an important event because it gives the school of music a chance to present itself as something other than that which you might associate (with) sort of stuffy classical music,” she said. “Musicians have a great sense of humor and this is … meant to be just a little gateway to help them realize, ‘Hey, maybe I would like to come back and see another performance.
If You Go
What: Hallowpalooza VI – An Arm and Allegro
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
Admission: Free for OU students and children (12 and under), general admission $5
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