Halloween Concert
FMU’s concert band performed their Halloween concert for a full house at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) on Oct. 27.
The event brought students, faculty and members of the community together. Several groups, such as the Lake City First Baptist Church and the Ronald E. McNair Junior High-school Band from Lake City, were also in attendance to show their support.
When selecting the pieces, conductor Kelly Jokisch noticed that the concert fell on Halloween week. With such placement she decided to re-enact a special performance from her college years by turning it into a Halloween concert. Instead of wearing dress black, the band, as well as members of the audience, wore costumes that ranged from Cinderella to the Phantom of the Opera.
“I had a lot of fun performing a Halloween concert when I was in college,” Jokisch said.
“It was such a wonderful experience for both the musicians and the audience members, and I knew this was my chance to do the same with the FMU band,” Jokisch said.
During the evening the band performed numbers from well-known lms and plays such as “Fantasia,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Wicked” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
The band began the performance with “Selections from Fantasia,” arranged by James Curnow. During the piece, the band kept the audience on their feet by starting and stopping the music at different points and changing the dynamics.
The next piece, “Goddess of Fire,” by Steven Reinke, was about Pele, the feared Hawaiian goddess of the volcanoes. The piece portrayed her happiness and wrath at the Hawaiian people.
Next, the group performed “Music For a Darkened Theatre” written by Danny Elfman and arranged by James Swearingen.
“Composers of lm music are part of an exclusive group,” Jokisch said. “They are able to transfer actors’ emotions and the storyline through sound. “It is a medium that is very powerful. Danny Elfman definitely deserves to be a superhero of music composition.”
During the night, the band performed many of Elfman’s pieces such as “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “The Batman Theme.” After Elfman’s pieces the band performed selections from “Wicked,” as well as a selection of songs from “The Phantom of the Opera.”
The FMU concert band will be performing their winter concert on Feb. 9, 2016 in the PAC. Their spring concert will be held on April 19, 2016 also in the PAC. For more events visit FMU’s cultural events website or the Florence Regional Arts Alliance website.
