Symphony San Jose is turning the historic California Theatre into a haunted concert hall this month, staging a Halloween-themed “Symphonic Spooktacular” on Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25. The family-friendly program promises an on-stage costume contest alongside a mix of spooky classical and contemporary orchestral works, with tickets priced from $35 to $125.
The concerts, reported by The Mercury News, will be led by guest conductor Peter Jaffe, who regularly appears with Symphony San Jose. Jaffe has served as music director of the Stockton Symphony since 1995 and the Folsom Lake Symphony since 2014, according to the Folsom Lake Symphony, and is known across Northern California for his educational outreach and symphonic arrangements.
Saturday's performance starts at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday's matinee begins at 2:30 p.m. The program includes Danny Elfman and Neal Hefti's 1989 “Batman” theme, Wagner's “Ride of the Valkyries,” “Cruella de Vil” from “101 Dalmatians,” and “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” from “Fantasia,” per the same account. Adult patrons may also buy half-price tickets for accompanying guests ages 17 and younger.
A Century-Old Stage Built for Atmosphere
The setting itself carries plenty of character. The California Theatre first opened in April 1927 as the Fox Theatre with 1,122 seats, then reopened in September 2004 following a $75 million restoration funded by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency and the Packard Humanities Institute, according to GPSmyCity. Designed by architects Weeks and Day, the venue is set to mark its 100th anniversary in April 2027.
Part of what gives the theater its eerie resonance is its organ. The California Theatre houses a new Mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ installed by the Stanford Theatre Foundation, built around a restored “wedding-cake” console from Chicago's Uptown Theatre with 21 Wurlitzer pipe ranks, as reported by Silent Era. Situated in downtown San Jose's SoFA Arts District, the theater serves as the primary home for both Symphony San Jose and Opera San José, and has hosted cultural events including the NAFA Film Festival, which ran Aug. 7–9, as Hoodline previously reported in August.
Symphony San Jose itself grew out of the 2002 collapse of the former San Jose Symphony, which had operated in various forms in the South Bay since the late 19th century, according to its Wikipedia entry. The new organization was created in part to keep local musicians employed after the old symphony's bankruptcy and dissolution. For younger concertgoers, the orchestra also offers a $25 Saturday Night SoundCheck Pass for audience members 25 and under, granting access to all Saturday evening classical performances along with $25 companion tickets.
Costumes Onstage, a Cause Behind the Curtain
Beyond the music, the Spooktacular weekend is linked to a broader community effort. Santa Clara County high school students are invited to design an original plush toy or other comforting item, which will be given to children at both the existing San Jose Children's Advocacy Center and the soon-to-open South County Children's Advocacy Center in Morgan Hill. Students are encouraged to submit artwork reflecting a safe, welcoming and supportive environment for children and families, per The Mercury News.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office's 2026 “Justice for All” contest awards prize money drawn from criminal asset forfeiture funds seized by law enforcement, according to the Office of the District Attorney. The first-place winner receives $1,500, second place $1,000, and third place $500. The top three winners will be honored at an awards ceremony, and the first-place design will appear on the DA's website as part of a countywide awareness campaign for the advocacy centers.
This isn't the contest's first run. Prior installments of the annual “Justice for All” poster contest focused on animal cruelty awareness in May 2026, drawing more than 130 high school entries, and on smartphone cybercrime awareness in May 2025, per the District Attorney's Office. Students interested in entering the current plush-toy design contest can find submission details and rules through the link provided by The Mercury News.
Expanding Care for Abuse Survivors Countywide
The Morgan Hill center that will eventually receive the student-designed toys fits into a larger expansion of trauma care across Santa Clara County. The county opened its first Children's Advocacy Center in San Jose in 2021, providing multidisciplinary trauma care to more than 4,200 youth, and broke ground in February 2026 on the second center at Valley Health Center in Morgan Hill, according to the County of Santa Clara, which is scheduled to open in early 2027. Fewer than 3% of victims previously served at the San Jose center came from South County, underscoring the gap the new facility is meant to close.
That gap has been building for years. In September 2023, the county expanded its Sexual Assault Forensic Examination network to South County at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, the Gilroy Dispatch reported at the time. Together, the Spooktacular's costume contest and the county's plush-toy initiative give the Halloween weekend at the California Theatre a dual purpose: a night of spooky orchestral fun with a thread tying back to the county's youngest abuse survivors. Tickets for the Oct. 24-25 performances can be purchased by calling 408-286-2600.
