Symphony’s ‘Spooktacular’ Among the Weekend’s Best Bashes for the Whole Family

IN THE EARLIEST days of Hollywood, minor keys, minor seconds, tritones, and the hoariest of classical music themes were used to great effect, such as the “Merry Widow Waltz” in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1943 thriller, Shadow of a Doubt (scored by Dimitri Tiomkin). And who can forget hearing composer Bernard Herrmann’s screeching violins in Psycho? You could say Halloween and symphonic music go together like peanut butter and jelly (or candy corn and dental floss).

On Saturday, Oct. 28, conductor Nicholas Hersh leads the Houston Symphony in a Halloween Spooktacular, two kid-friendly concerts of not-too-scary film music from Harry Potter, Coco, Beauty and the Beast, and the TV series Wednesday in the newly renovated Jones Hall, which sounds awesome, by the way. (There are more bathrooms now, too!)

Parents and kids are invited to dress in their favorite Halloween costumes and enjoy the performance in the spookily decorated concert hall. The always dapper HSO musicians will be in costume as well. American conductor Hersh is renowned for his innovative programming and natural ability to connect with both musicians and audiences.

There will also be trick-or-treating in the Jones Hall lobby, and a chance for kids to try out instruments from the orchestra at the symphony’s popular Instrument Petting Zoo. Children will have the opportunity to blow, pluck, and hit (With a soft mallet!) a variety of instruments, including trumpets, violins, and marimbas. “When a child discovers that they can create a sound, that they have the building blocks necessary to make music, you can literally hear doors opening,” said former Houston Symphony Director of Education and Community Engagement Roger Daily in an interview with parentspost.com. (Allison Conlan is currently Interim Director of Education and Community Engagement.) “There are only a few gifts that one can give a child to last a lifetime — music is absolutely one of them.”

Who says classical music can’t be fun?