This year, Halloween is BACK! After a pandemic break from spooky festivities, the good people of Hays, Kansas can look forward to all their favorites: costumes, scary stories, trick-or-treating, and the annual Halloween concert by the Hays Symphony Orchestra!
Don’t miss “Creepy Classics: A Children’s Halloween Concert ,” this Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm CT the Beach Schmidt Performing Arts Center. Today, we spoke to Dr. Brian Buckstead, the upcoming concert’s conductor. In addition to running the show this Sunday, he’s an Assistant Professor of Violin & Viola, as well as the Director of Orchestras. He told us about the program for this show, which is in its 5th year. See below for the full program, but it’s oozing with ghoulish fare that any classical-music lover will enjoy. Plus, before the show, they’re offering kids a bunch of cool activities to engage with music, instruments, creativity, and candy.
Click the link at the top of this page to hear our full interview.
For tickets and information, click here.
MORE ABOUT THIS EVENT: Tickets are free, but please register on this link. The music will begin at 2:30pm CT. The program will include:
-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 (Film score)
-March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique, by Hector Berlioz
-Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone Suite, by John Williams
Before the concert, there will be loads of hands-on activities for kids to enjoy, starting at 1:30pm CT, thanks to the FHSU Chapter of the National Association for Music Education. The activities 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
Note: The concert and treats are sponsored by a generous donation from Werth Wealth Management. All Hays Symphony concerts are offered at no cost and are 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.
