Spooktacular afternoon of musical treats for young ghouls and goblins - Oct. 31

ESSO Symphony for Kids
Pumpkinful afternoon of frightful tricks and musical treats

Spooktacular
Saturday, October 31st ’Äì 2:00 pm

Edmonton, AB ’Ķ A ghostly host joins your Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) to take the whole family on a witch’Äôs broom ride through the Francis Winspear Centre for Music. Conductor Bruce Hangen will reveal an orchestral graveyard of frightening noises and eerie effects that will have children screaming with delight!

This chilling performance will haunt the music hall with the Addams Family Values Tango, Bratton’Äôs The Teddy Bears’Äô Picnic, Dukas’Äô The Sorcerer’Äôs Apprentice, selections from The Phantom of the Opera and Pictures at an Exhibition, and so much more. This 60-minute concert is performed without intermission.

Fill your cauldron of Halloween activities with a pumpkinful afternoon of musical tricks and treats. Creep over to the Winspear Centre for pre-concert activities starting at 1:15 PM in the main lobby, where young ghouls and goblins will have a frightfully fun time crafting Halloween masks.

Ticket prices for this matinee performance range from $21 to $29 for Adults, and $13 to $17 for Children (agency fees apply). Call the Winspear Centre Box Office at (780) 428-1414 or 1-800-563-5081, or purchase online at www.edmontonsymphony.com.

The next performance of the ESSO Symphony for Kids series will take place on November 21st. Bring the wee lads and lasses to the Winspear Centre for A Celtic Adventure with Bill Eddins and the Knock School of Irish Dance.

Thank you to our generous series sponsor ESSO Imperial Oil Foundation, our series media sponsor 105.9 Shine FM, and our season media sponsor CBC.

Sponsorship inquiries can be directed to Marc Carnes, Director of Development, at (780) 401-2518.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, marking its 58th season in 2009-2010, has taken its place as one of Canada's foremost orchestral ensemble. Its current roster includes 56 musicians from Canada and around the world, performing a wide-ranging repertoire from the great classical masterworks to pops and children's concerts. The presence of the orchestra and its enrichment of the community's quality of life are key elements in the stature and profile of Edmonton on the national and international scene.

Winspear Centre Box Office:
#4 Sir Winston Churchill Square
(780) 428-1414 or 1-800-563-5081
www.edmontonsymphony.com

Biography

Bruce Hangen is Director of Orchestral Activities at the Boston Conservatory, serving as the Conservatory’Äôs principal orchestral conductor as well as director of both the orchestra and conducting programs. The 2008/2009 season marked his 11th season as the Music Director of the Indian Hill Symphony. Recently, Mr. Hangen completed his tenure as the Principal Pops Guest Conductor of the Boston Pops. This position was created in May 2002 especially for Mr. Hangen, reflecting the strong musical relationship built over two decades of regular guest conducting. Other past positions include Music Director of the Omaha Symphony. From 1998 to 2000, he was Acting Resident Conductor of both the Utah and Kansas City Symphony Orchestras. Mr. Hangen was for ten seasons (1976-86) Music Director and Conductor of the Portland (Maine) Symphony; 1973-79 Associate Conductor of the Denver Symphony; 1975-79 Music Director of the Arapahoe Chamber Orchestra in Denver; six summer seasons (1966-72) Assistant Conductor of the Colorado Philharmonic.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a major in conducting, Hangen was also a conducting fellow at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for two summers, where his conducting teachers included Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. His recent appearances have included concerts with the Florida Philharmonic and Boston Symphony as well as the orchestras of St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Naples (FL), and Houston. His repeat engagements with the Boston Pops and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestras alone totaled well over 200 performances since 1979. Mr. Hangen is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of New England, and in Omaha he received the ICAN Foundation’Äôs 1990 Browning Award for Career Excellence and Vision. Bruce Hangen was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and was raised in Great Falls, Montana.

Mr. Hangen last appeared with the ESO in September, 2008.