Orchestra conjures up spooky enjoyable at annual Halloween live performance

When Kevin McMahon got here to Purdue University Fort Wayne as an assistant professor of music and conductor of the University and Community Orchestra, he introduced one thing enjoyable with him. While he was a pupil on the University of Michigan, McMahon participated in a Halloween live performance the place orchestra members wore costumes and performed appropriately themed music. That sort of expertise was one thing he launched to the PFW campus in 2023.

“My hope was that Halloween would be so fun that we would have more people in attendance, and it would just up the whole energy for everybody,” McMahon mentioned.

Fans and gamers now look ahead to the annual Halloween-season live performance—some within the 70-member orchestra put in months of planning to develop distinctive appears. Adding to the ambiance, this 12 months’s occasion really takes place on Halloween, this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Auer Performance Hall. Tickets cost between $6.50 and $9.50, however are free for PFW college students.

The performers stroll on stage in ones or twos so everybody can admire their apparel, in addition to their musical expertise.

“I think the orchestra members enjoy the costumes, not just because it’s a way to have fun and express ourselves, but also to invite the audience to do so as well,” mentioned Jake Fost, who performs French horn. “Dr. McMahon constantly talks about audience participation and seeing how we can involve the audience, telling our friends and family to come to our concerts, and just getting everything to feel like a community.”

With a primary title like Jake, Fost had a straightforward time choosing his costume two years in the past, “Jake from State Farm,” carrying khakis and a crimson polo shirt. His mom got here by with the defining addition, a magnetic title tag that includes the basic State Farm brand.

Last 12 months, Fost went as Austin Powers, carrying a white cravat, velvet jumpsuit, and different equipment related to the fictional British superspy. That beat shaving his head and going as Dr. Evil. This 12 months, he’s torn between Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and carrying a comically giant go well with jacket and going as David Byrne from the pop music group Talking Heads.

Rod Sroufe, who performs double bass, determined to go final 12 months as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken, leaving his percussionist son, Evan, on the lookout for a complementary outfit.

“I thought I would just go as a chicken,” Evan mentioned. “I happened to decide this at the last moment, so when I went to the Halloween store, they were all out of chicken costumes. I grabbed the closest thing I could find to a chicken costume, which was a penguin costume. I thought it would be a hilarious deception if I wore the penguin costume and made our orchestra’s Colonel Sanders sell KFP—Kentucky Fried Penguin—instead.”

Violinist Oliver Bartz, B.S. ’24, mentioned now he’s unable to have a look at Rod Sroufe with out seeing Colonel Sanders.

“When the musicians are in costume, it removes the sense of authority the orchestra has over the audience and helps the audience imagine themselves in the orchestra,” Bartz mentioned. “It removes some of the impersonal feelings that audiences can get with an orchestra.”

There’s at all times a visitor pianist for the live performance, alternating between school maestros Jonathan Young and Hamilton Tescarollo. Young will play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2 this 12 months. After showing as a Jedi knight two years in the past, with a hood and a lightsaber, he’ll gown this time as Aragorn, a ranger from the “Lord of the Rings” motion pictures.

“They need to match the tone of the concerto, in this case heroic and sorrowful,” Young mentioned. “I prefer protagonist characters, especially since the two concerti at Halloween concerts have been composed by Rachmaninoff. I am beyond excited for this performance. It is my favorite piano concerto by my favorite composer!”

McMahon mentioned Young and Tescarollo encourage the scholars to boost their degree of musicianship.

The two-hour live performance’s first half will deal with conventional, legendary compositions, whereas the second consists of latest common requirements, together with the themes from “Jaws” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Pushing the envelope occasion additional, there have been some daring costume decisions through the years, equivalent to a kilt-wearing Scottish highlander and Super Mario. French horn participant Abbi Winterhalter will put on a rainbow-colored xylophone costume Friday night time.

“You have to have the confidence to play wearing the costume, which all makes it very fun,” mentioned Allyn Beifus, B.A. ’18, a pianist who final 12 months wore a witch T-shirt and hat, vampire cape, and skeleton masks and fingers. She ditched the gloves and masks to play.

Ryan Smith, a double bass participant and orchestra director at Northrop High School and Jefferson Middle School, mentioned he generally takes costume recommendation from college students. Last 12 months, Smith went as Dr. Eggman from the Sonic video games.

“You just get to the point where it’s going to speak to you at the last second, so you go with it,” mentioned Smith, who this 12 months is contemplating Indiana Jones or Mr. Clean.

McMahon dressed as a skeleton in 2023 and Frankenstein’s monster final 12 months, each instances eradicating his masks to conduct. At press time, he wasn’t positive of his selection for this present.