The Alabama Symphony Orchestra is bringing some of horror cinema's most recognizable scores to life on October 30, with a concert the night before Halloween that blends Bernard Herrmann's screeching strings from Psycho with Broadway and Disney favorites. The performance, titled After Dark: A Symphony of Shivers, is set for 7 p.m. at UAB's Alys Stephens Center, with tickets ranging from $36.50 to $95.50 and costumes encouraged for attendees.
The concert's full program spans John Carpenter's Halloween Theme, Herrmann's Psycho score, John Williams' Devil's Dance and his Harry Potter music, Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before Christmas Suite, and Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, according to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Guest vocalist Amy Johnson will join the orchestra. The program also includes selections from Wicked, The Little Mermaid, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. As Bham Now reports, the evening falls under the orchestra's broader effort to bring favorite horror movie soundtracks to a live audience, with the venue located at 1200 10th Ave. S in Birmingham.
Masa Ohtake, the orchestra's second trombonist, told the outlet that the themed program gives audiences a different kind of entertainment option while tapping into the Halloween spirit. The concert will be led by conductor Chris Confessore, who has served as the orchestra's Resident Conductor and Principal Pops Conductor for more than two decades while also serving as Music Director of Florida's Brevard Symphony Orchestra, according to his professional biography. He leads the orchestra's Pops, Masterworks, and educational concerts throughout the state.
A Concert Hall Built for the Sound
The performance takes place in the 1,300-seat Jemison Concert Hall, a European-style space inside the Alys Stephens Center that was engineered specifically for symphonic and acoustic performances, per the UAB Center for the Arts. The hall, which opened in 1996, serves as the primary home venue for Alabama Symphony Orchestra performances. Patrons buying tickets through the venue can also opt into ticketing insurance at 7% of the ticket price, guaranteeing a full refund if they become unable to attend — a perk that comes automatically included with UAB Arts memberships.
Costumes are welcome for the crowd attending the night-before-Halloween concert, and the themed event fits into a year-round pattern for the orchestra, which performs in unique spaces around Birmingham throughout the season. The city's newly renovated Carver Theatre is a historic 1930s venue that opened in 1935 and became a focal point for African American arts in Birmingham.
A Century of Ups and Downs
The orchestra's roots trace back to a volunteer ensemble formed at the 1921 Birmingham Music Festival. It formally incorporated in 1933, according to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra's own history, but ceased operations in 1993 because of financial pressures. It reopened in 1997 following a major community fundraising drive.
Ohtake said a symphony is a vital piece of a city's culture, noting that Alabama is one of just 25 states in the country with a full-time professional symphony orchestra. Ticket sales from themed concerts like After Dark help fund the orchestra's continued presence in the community, supporting programs that bring music to patients and their families through health care partnerships and musical education to underserved communities.
Education and a National Reputation
Those civic efforts extend into classrooms statewide. Through its annual Young People's Concerts, the orchestra reaches thousands of students each season; its educational outreach extends statewide, and it distributes curriculum study guides to teachers ahead of performances, according to Wikipedia. The orchestra has also built a reputation beyond regional pops programming — in 2011, ASCAP awarded it the John S. Edwards Award for its national commitment to performing works by living American composers.
Alabama is home to orchestras including the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Mobile Symphony, and the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Concerts like After Dark: A Symphony of Shivers offer Birmingham audiences a seasonal novelty and a chance to hear the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
