NKU – janellesnotes

What’s your favorite spooky music for Halloween? Mine is “Night on Bald Mountain.” There’s also “Symphonie fantastique” (gulp). Here are a few classical suggestions for holiday listening:

WGUC (90.9 FM) will be playing its annual Tunes from the Crypt, from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 31.

If you’ve got a ticket to the Cincinnati Symphony’s CSO Proof event, “Dia de los Muertos,” 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 30, you’re lucky. The candlelit event is SOLD OUT. It will be visually appealing and they collaborating with local artist Rebecca Nava Soto, a Mariachi band and the Cincinnati Baila! Dance Academy. The program features Latin American music and will have candles, an ofrenda and have epitaphs in a graveyard, where guests can add their own voice to the ofrenda.

There are still tickets for Disney’s “Hokus Pokus in Concert,” Nov. 1 and 2 in Music Hall. Join Max, Allison and Dani on a magical Halloween romp through Salem as they match wits with the legendary Sanderson sisters. Catch this bewitching film on the big screen as the Cincinnati Pops performs the score live to film. 513-381-3300, or click here.

Across the river, James R. Cassidy and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will open their season with Nosferatu (A Symphony Of Horrors), film to live orchestral accompaniment, 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 31 in Greaves Concert Hall at NKU. The silent horror film classic Nosferatu is paired with the music from the 1828 opera Der Vampyr, adapted to the film for live orchestral accompaniment by composer Timothy Brock. The evening will open with the Disney 1929 cartoon “The Skeleton Dance” featuring Carl Stallings’ musical accompaniment, before launching into the 86-minute feature film. Attend dressed as your favorite cinematic vampire and receive a free, bloody-good drink courtesy of the KSO. For additional info and tickets — visit kyso.org or call (859) 431- 6216. Tickets: $19 – $35

J.R. Cassidy and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra are teaming with an excellent cast and members of the School of the Arts at NKU for a full concert presentation of George Bizet’s “Carmen.” The concert staging — 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 28 and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 30 in Greaves Concert Hall, NKU — is timed for the 150th anniversary of the premiere of “Carmen” in March, 1875, in Paris.

Besides its freespirited title character, it’s an opera that features one great tune after another. As a soldier (DonJose) and bullfighter (Escamillo) compete for Carmen’s attention, the affair spirals out of control, leading to her demise.

Mezzo-soprano Kirstin Chávez stars in the title role. Her interpretation of Carmen has taken her around globe and into such celebrated venues as Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, the Arena di Verona in Italy, and the Welsh National Opera. Matthew Pearce, a native of Northern Kentucky is Don Jose. This season, he sings Don Pizzarro in Paer’s Leonora (Chicago Opera Theatre) and the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto (Pacific Opera Victoria).

Baritone Morgan Smith takes on the role of the bullfighter Escamillo. He has created 16 roles in world premieres, including Starbuck in Jake Heggie’s celebrated Moby-Dick. Smith has also earned praise for performances in traditional repertoire, notably Escamillo (Carmen), the title role of Don Giovanni, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Count Alamaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann), and the title role of Eugene Onegin. Recently, Morgan’s work as Richard in Kevin Puts’ The Hours has been heard in workshops with Cincinnati Opera and The Metropolitan Opera.

James Cassidy will conduct. The production will be directed by Audrey Chait, who is on the artistic staff at Cincinnati Opera, and has been a member of the NKU music department faculty since 2019. Local students and area singers will fill out the cast, along with NKU choirs, dancers, and youth choirs from the prep department and Ignite.

For additional info and tickets — kyso.org or (859) 431-6216.

Spooky Halloween music

Kentucky Symphony to mount ‘Carmen in Concert’