The strains of spine-tingling music will set the mood for Transylvania’s PumpkinMania Festival presented by UK Federal Credit Union later this month.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, Transylvania’s choirs, band and orchestra join the Scott County and Great Crossing high school choirs for a free SPOOKTACULAR Halloween Concert at 2:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium.
Get more info on the 14th annual PumpkinMania Festival, which also includes a family-friendly jack-o’-lantern carving, magic show, food trucks and more. Tickets for the Oct. 27 carving are now available.
The SPOOKTACULAR concert will feature costumed performers playing scary music like “Danse Macabre,” “Symphonie Fantastique,” the “Halloween” movie theme and, for the big closer with over 200 singers, a movement from “Carmina Burana.”
“This is a lot of fun for students,” said professor Lawrence Spell, who will be conducting the band and orchestra. “We want it to become an annual tradition.” He also sees it as an opportunity to grow the music program’s audience.
Brent Merritt, the choir conductor and instructor of music ensembles, said he envisioned the show as a “highly entertaining and spooky” way to tie in to the exciting atmosphere surrounding PumpkinMania and its display of 500 jack-o’-lanterns glowing on the steps of Old Morrison each night from Oct. 27 through Halloween.
“It’s going to be a wide variety of music that fits the theme,” said Merritt, who led Scott County High School’s popular choral program for two decades.
Some of the other choir pieces will include Michael John Trotta’s “Dies Irae” and “This is Halloween” from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” For the finale, all of the singers and instrumentalists will take the stage for “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
Spell, who began this fall term, said he’s been amazed so far by the dedication of the school’s student musicians along with his “wonderful colleagues,” who are eager to collaborate — including across disciplines. “There is this great community vibe here at Transy,” he said.
SPOOKTACULAR will be Spell’s first concert at Transylvania — but he’s a Halloween concert veteran, having conducted them at the University of Utah dressed as evil Spock, Uncle Fester and Mars from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”
Additionally, Spell plans to raise the visibility of the program by engaging his student musicians more with the school community — for instance, a chamber ensemble could play at campus events or in the Great Hall around the holidays.
A trombone player himself, Spell has a lot of experience organizing ensembles. At colleges where he previously taught, he launched collaborative groups with community musicians to give his students more opportunities to learn and showcase their talent.
Spell earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Utah after receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Carolina University. In addition to serving in a range of teaching and conducting roles — from large universities to community colleges — he leads conducting workshops for the Embodied Conducting Institute in Bulgaria. The annual program brings together advanced music students from across the globe.
He also plans to guest conduct the Central Kentucky Concert Band, which often performs in Transylvania’s Haggin Auditorium — not only the site of the SPOOKTACULAR concert, but also an increasingly popular stage for professional performers. “We’ve got a really nice venue,” Spell said.