PRINCE GEORGE SYMPHONY LAUNCHES 2023-24 SEASON WITH A HALLOWE’EN THEME
The Prince George Symphony Orchestra opens its 2023-24 mainstage season this Sunday with a light-hearted but substantial Hallowe’en program.
“We wanted to start the season with a concert that could appeal to a large range of people,” said PGSO Music Director Michael Hall. “Hallowe’en is great because it lets us play some real meaty classics from the orchestral repertoire, but also lets our hair down a little and have some fun.”
The concert will open with Night on Bare Mountain, the Mussorgsky masterpiece that Disney fans will recognize from the witches’ sabbath sequence of Fantasia. The concert also includes Canadian Mathew J Donnelly’s “Grave-digger’s Waltz” and Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite #1, with the ubiquitous “Morning Mood” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”
However, the concert is really structured around Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead - a murder mystery for orchestra with music by award-winning American composer Nathaniel Stookey. The piece will be narrated by local broadcaster and performer Catherine Hansen.
“Everyone knows that the most famous Classical composers are all dead,” said Ken Hall, Executive Director of the PGSO. “Lemony Snicket dared to finally ask the questions ‘Who killed them? And why?’”
The concert promises to appeal to all ages. Guests are encouraged to dress up in a costume as long as it won’t interfere with others’ enjoyment of the performance.
The show starts at 2pm on Sunday, October 29 at Vanier Hall. Tickets are available online at PGSO.com, by phone (until 3pm Friday), or at the door.