Contributed by Drewcilla Holifield
‘Frightfully Delightful’ Concert
10/12/19 – 7:30 PM
Mat-Su Concert Band
Glenn Massay Theater
8295 E College Dr, Palmer
$20 general admission & $5 for students
Children under 5 FREE
The Mat-Su Concert Band will bring the spooky soundtrack of October to the stage at a fall concert that combines popular favorites with scary-sounding classical pieces.
The “Frightfully Delightful” concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Glenn Massay Theater at Mat-Su College. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students. Children under 5 get in free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.matsuconcertband.org.
The concert goes to the movies with “The Complete Harry Potter” arranged by Jerry Brubaker, which incorporates themes from all eight movies about the boy with special powers from the series of popular fantasy novels by J.K. Rowling. The music, composed by John Williams and others, evokes the world of magic and wizarding.
The band will also play music from Danny Elfman’s soundtrack for “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, a stop-motion animated dark fantasy that incorporates the worlds of Halloween Town and Santa Claus. The soundtrack incorporates lyrical melodies with jarring themes. It was nominated for a 1993 Golden Globe for best original score.
A selection in a more classical vein, “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saens was written in 1874 as a tone poem for orchestra based on a dark French superstition about the dead beckoned from their graves to dance while Death fiddles in a frenzied waltz before they vanish at dawn when the rooster crows.
Another classical piece from the program is “Night on the Bare Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky. Many are familiar with the ominous swirling runs of notes from a version performed in the 1940 Disney classic “Fantasia.” A witches’ Sabbath was the inspiration for Mussorgsky’s creation, completed in 1867.
Other selections scheduled to be performed include “March of the Trolls” by Edvard Grieg; “Abracadabra” by Frank Ticheli; “October” by Eric Whitacre; and “March Diabolique” by Brian Balmages.
Mat-Su Concert Band got its start in 1984 as the Mat-Su Community Band, formed by Matanuska Music owner Hank Hartman. Other directors have included Neil Long and Phil Munger. Current director, Gleo Huyck, is a retired music educator and private instructor. Under Huyck’s baton, the band performs a wide-ranging selection of challenging music. The band this season numbers about 70 amateur musicians who assemble every Monday night for rehearsals at Teeland Middle School.
