Orchestra and ballet celebrate Halloween with Spooktackle

The stage of the Center of Fine and Performing Arts’ recital hall was filled with such costumed performers as a 20s-era gangster on double-bass, a pumpkin-head violinist, and a Native American on timpani, all part of the Halloween celebration as The Department of Fine and Performing Arts presented the Orchestra Spooktackle, featuring TAMIU’s Combined College Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Brendan Townsend. Townsend, dressed as a hook-handed pirate complete with pirate colloquialisms, introduced the event to the audience. “We are delighted to bring music heard in the movies and stuff associated with Halloween,” said Townsend. The featured piece of the evening was Camille Saint-SaÃns’ Danse Macabre, a piece which featured TAMIU ballet students, masked in corpse-paint, as dancing skeletons. Courtney Mulcahy, Visiting Professor of Dance, commented on the collaboration between the TAMIU Combined Orchestra and TAMIU ballet.”Professor Townsend had added Danse Macabre to his selections. He knew it was one of my favorite pieces of music, and I had a strong desire to choreograph to it. He graciously offered the opportunity to perform with the orchestra, and I gladly accepted,” said Mulcahy. According to a university press release on the event, Saint-SaÃns’ work is based on the French superstition that every Halloween on midnight Death summons skeletons to dance.”In the beginning of the piece, the clock strikes midnight. One lone skeleton calls the others to rise from the earth to join her in dance. The skeletons rise and dance joyously throughout the evening. Towards the end, a cock’s crow can be heard, announcing the arrival of dawn. The skeletons, visibly saddened, reluctantly return to the earth to wait another year to dance,” said Mulcahy. Audience members appreciated the work of the dancers and commented on their experience. “It was very well done. The dancers were like another instrument to the symphony; they harmonized well with the music as it should be,” said senior English major William Haynes.”The costumes were delightful. The dancers were a nice addition,” said Associate Professor of English Dr. Frances Rhodes.In addition, some of the dancers shared their thoughts. “Well-written music has the mysterious ability to conjure up images and storylines in its listeners. Sometimes, though–and especially for those who are not accustomed to lyric-free classical music–the audience needs a visual to accompany the auditory to make the story clear,” said senior Erica Matos, who was one of the featured dancing skeletons.In addition to Danse Macabre, the night also featured Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, which includes the ever popular fourth movement, “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Also performed was Charles Gounod’s “Judex” from Mors et Vita, which translates to Death and Life. The work featured Associate Professor of Music Dr. Fritz Gechter on piano.”The work celebrates life and death and how life truly begins after death. Since the Day of the Dead is just around the corner, we felt [the piece] was appropriate,” said Townsend.The night also featured a special guest conductor, Dr. Lem Railsback, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. Railsback joined the orchestra to conduct John Phillip Sousa’s most famous work: “Stars and Stripes Forever.””I really enjoyed the guest conductor-the pumpkin-head was also great. They [all] seem to be having so much fun,” said Regents Professor of History Dr. Jerry Thompson.The concert culminated with the performance of “Hoedown” from Aaron Copeland’s ballet, Rodeo.”This piece has nothing to do with Halloween, but we just like [performing] it,” said Townsend.