News release
The Hays Symphony will be presenting Creepy Classics: A Children’s Halloween Concert, featuring loud noises, creepy sounds and the scary stories music can tell, on Sunday October 31, 2021, 2:30 p.m. in the FHSU Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. The ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Brian Buckstead, Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at FHSU.
The program features Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens, Night on Bald Mountain, by Modest Mussorgsky, In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, by Edward Grieg, Suite from Psycho, by Bernard Herrmann, March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique, by Hector Berlioz, andHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Suite, by John Williams.
In addition, a host of music and Halloween themed pre-concert activities will be offered starting at 1:30pm. “We think it’s important for kids to get their hands on instruments and to make connections between the music they’re hearing and how it’s created,” said Buckstead.
Symphony musicians and members of the FHSU Chapter of the National Association for Music Education will assist with pre-concert activities which include:
· Spooky Music Tour—costumed statues come to life playing clips of the scariest sounds and music kids will hear in the concert;
· Drumming Circle—bongos, tam-tams, and other rhythm devices for making lots of loud noise;
· String Instrument Petting Zoo—hands-on guided experimenting with violins, violas and cellos;
· In the Hall of the Mountain King—tiptoe past the troll….run for your life in this retelling of the Mountain King story full of music, story and action;
· Meet the Family: Winds & Brass—flutes, trumpets, tubas, clarinets and more. FHSU students demonstrate their instruments from the wind and brass families;
· Creepy Arts and Crafts—create a variety of Halloween characters and props with a treasure box of arts supplies;
· Halloween Costume Parade—follow the brass leaders as costumed children parade around Beach-Schmidt and into the auditorium for the start of the concert.
· Free Trick-or-Treat Bags to the first 250 kids
The concert and treats are sponsored by a generous donation from Werth Wealth Management.
All Hays Symphony concerts are free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to reserve tickets in advance on the symphony’s web site. Tickets may also be picked up in advance at the Hays Convention Visitors Bureau and the Downtown Hays Development Corporation, or at the symphony table in the lobby 30 minutes before the performance