UPDATE: In light of all that the South Georgia/North Florida area has experienced over the last month, the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra would like to offer a limited number of free tickets to this Saturday’s family-friendly Halloween Concert and Cosplay Competition.  Just call 229-333-2150 (and leave a callback number if needed) or email saporter@valdosta.edu to request tickets.  Tickets will be given in order of requests received until they are gone, so call/email now!

VALDOSTA – Dressing up for the symphony is nothing new.

Dressing up in costumes to attend the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra concert may be becoming a new tradition.

Concert-goers can dress as their favorite ghoul, ghost, celebrity or any other thing as part of the VSO’s “Casual Classics: Frightful Favorites” Saturday, Oct. 26, at Whitehead Auditorium.

The cosplay idea started last season when the VSO performed a concert featuring favorite songs from movie soundtracks, said Howard Hsu, Valdosta Symphony conductor and music director.

“We had great success with the movie concert,” Hsu said. The cosplay competition part of the concert attracted 35-40 participants.

The audience was filled with people in costumes, including Hsu. He conducted the first half of the concert dressed as Professor Severus Snape from the “Harry Potter” series and the second half of the concert dressed as Darth Vader.

Like the movie concert, people can dress in costumes then opt to participate or not participate in the cosplay contest during the “Frightful Favorites” performance, Hsu said.

What audiences will hear is a collection of scary movie themes such as what  music commentator Alan M. Rothenberg calls “aural memes.”

“Standard orchestral instruments used in an unusual way and then combined with short, repetitive motives, can create a chilling effect,” Rothenberg writes in Program Notes. “Two famous – or infamous? – examples: Bernard Hermann’s score for the 1960 thriller ‘Psycho.’ The screeching violins heard during the famous shower scene has become an ‘aural meme,’ frequently used in television and movies to imply impending doom. Another aural meme, this one signifying impending danger, is John Williams’ music for the 1975 movie ‘Jaws.’ The pulsing, two-note ostinato, starting slowly and gradually gaining speed, signals the perilous approach of the shark.”

The concert features classical works associated with the Halloween season. Some audience members may not recognize the names of the works or the composers but Hsu said they will be familiar with the music. Works such as Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” used in the Disney animated classic “Fantasia” or Charles Gounod and Lyn Murray’s “Funeral March of a Marionette” better known as the theme from the TV show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”

“There’s quite a bit of nostalgia,” Hsu said. “I think these are songs everybody is going to remember or they wouldn’t be on the program.”

Like every other South Georgia organization and event, the VSO had to weigh the pros and cons of moving forward with the scheduled concert in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Dozens of trees fell on the Valdosta State University campus. Some structures such as the music building were damaged by felled trees. Power outages affected the ability to rehearse. 

With so many neighborhoods still impacted by downed trees street-side and blocking sidewalks, Hsu said “Frightful Favorites” includes a chance for children of all ages attending the concert to trick or treat in the hallways of the VSU Fine Arts Building.

Valdosta Symphony Orchestra’s “Casual Classics: Frightful Favorites” plays 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, Whitehead Auditorium, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. More information, tickets, reservations: Visit www.valdostasymphony.org or call (229) 333-2150.