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1.1k shares SHARE TWEET SMS SEND EMAIL Typical Halloween activities include scary movies and haunted houses. At Yale University and Wake Forest University, students celebrate with late-night orchestral concerts. The midnight Halloween concert tradition began when Yale Symphony director Rob Kapilow created a Pops-like concert with eerie, Halloween-themed music. Since then, the concert has become much more than that, featuring a silent film produced by students as they play spooky songs to accompany the movie. The concert has become much more than that, featuring a silent film produced by students as they play spooky songs to accompany the movie. (Photo Kenneth Kato) “It’s original content, all from scratch,” says Yale Symphony manager Brian Robinson of the film. Students spend months preparing the final product, which includes campus jokes and even incorporates celebrities into scenes. Past celebrities include James Franco and John McCain, who were both on campus. One year, studentseven filmed Woody Allen in his house. Both the orchestra and audience members dress in costume for the event. When the players come onstage, they enter by instrumental section, with each group in a different costume theme. Unique costume choices have ranged from grey shirts to represent 50 Shades of Grey to entire sections portraying different stages of Miley Cyrus. Junior Joan Rhee, Halloween show director, says she has put in about 15 hours of work a week for the concert. “It will be well worth it at 11:59 p.m. on Friday,” she says. “The Halloween show wonderfully exemplifies the power of music.” Unique costume choices have ranged from grey shirts to represent 50 Shades of Grey to entire sections portraying different stages of Miley Cyrus. (Photo Kenneth Kato) The decades-old tradition remains hugely popular and usually sells out quickly, and this year is no exception. Friday’s concert, which will be held in the 2,691-seat Woolsey Hall, sold out in a record-breaking 90 seconds. “Wordof mouth has made it one of the hottest things in town,” Robinson says. “After you’re done trick-or-treating, coming to the concert is the must-do event.” Wake Forest University Orchestra director David Hagy, who worked as Yale Symphony manager for several years, loved the concert so much he began the tradition at Wake Forest. This Friday marks the 20th annual Halloween concert at the school. Though Hagy got the idea for the midnight concert from Yale, his orchestra has adopted some of their own traditions in place of Yale’s. For example, while Wake Forest’s orchestra does not create a student-produced silent movie, both students and Hagy play pranks on each other as well as on the audience throughout the performance. “I love the creativity of it,” Hagy says. “You never know what to expect.” Past years’ pranks have included Hagy being abducted from the podium and students, dressed as Star Trek characters, fighting against each other during points in the music. “I’ve looked up and seenthe entire second violin section wearing masks of me,” Hagy says. While any concert involves work and preparation, students enjoy the fun, laid-back feel of the Halloween show. The process of the concert, which involves students planning pranks with each other in secret, provides an atmosphere in which players can bond. “Orchestra members have to work with each other, which actually kind of forces us to get to know each other better,” says junior Jihae Moon. “It’s helped me get closer with a lot of the students I normally wouldn’t be friends with.” At both schools, the Halloween concert provides a way for the orchestras to showcase music to people who might not normally attend an orchestra performance. “The audience reaction to our months of work is really the best thing,” Robinson says. “It’s not every concert we get 2,500 people cheering for orchestral music.” is a junior at Wake Forest University.  , , , , , ,   1.1k shares SHARE TWEET SMS SEND EMAIL Related Stories Comments