Halloween Concerts to Feature Zeppelin, Dory

by Kevin Cummings
Messenger Staff Writer
“Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, whose sounds caress my ear...”
The Sewanee Symphony Orchestra will look to caress some ears as they perform  “Kashmir,” with a rock band on Friday, Nov. 4, during the SSO’s fourth annual Halloween Concert. The Led Zeppelin hit is part of an eclectic event, juxtaposing classical and popular music, said César Lear, the symphony’s conductor.
“What young audiences have on their iPods is eclectic,” he noted. “This musical arrangement for the Halloween concert doesn’t necessarily scare people but it brings an element of the fantastic.”
Merging rock and classical music is a delicate process.
“It was a challenge to come in with rock guitars and amps and acoustic instruments like violins,” Leal said.
Along with “Kashmir,” the symphony will also perform Liszt’s 19th-century piece “Totentanz” (Dance of the Dead) featuring Sewanee senior Sherlock Xu; music from Offenbach’s operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld;” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Professor of violin Peter Povey is responsible for arranging the music for both “Kashmir” and “Pirates” and will play the electric violin. Povey updated Kashmir for the Sewanee concert, but he originally created the arrangement for the Montgomery Symphony in 2011.
The suite from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer features an ending arranged by Povey and a special simultaneous movie presentation.
 “We’re really stretching the technical boundaries of Guerry Auditorium,” Leal said. “We will have some projections, images, lights and sounds.”
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. at Guerry Auditorium, but that morning, the SSO will also give a special concert for about 500 area grade school students. The sorority Phi Kappa Epsilon (PKE) is involved in planning the festivities.
Molly Mueller, who is co-community service chair of PKE with M.C. Murphy, said the theme of the event is “Finding Dory.” All of the sorority participants will be in costume, and three members will emcee the event, which will also feature a skit at the beginning of the concert, Mueller said.
“PKE wanted to up our community engagement by getting involved in a project that we could continue to be a part of year after year, building and strengthening the relationships each year we are involved,” she said.
The sorority is also creating goodie bags for students. A number of local business sponsors helped make the children’s concert possible.