Concert Band and University Choir to Present October Concert

East Stroudsburg University’s Concert Band and the newly reconstituted University Choir will combine their talents to present a concert, The Spirits of October, Sunday, October 27 at 3:30 p.m. in Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall of the university’s Fine & Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg. The performance is open to the public at no cost.

“Our program will feature music of remembrance, perseverance and, of course, Halloween,” said Brian Hodge, director of Warrior Bands, who will be directing both musical groups for the concert. “Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, best known from its inclusion in the 1940s Disney film Fantasia, serves as a highly energetic opening for this concert.”

A key part of the presentation is the return of ESU’s University Choir to active status. “When I entered ESU as a freshman, the choir had recently been discontinued,” said choir member Ming Li Goldston, a senior from East Stroudsburg majoring in English and theatre. “I feel fortunate that the choir is starting again because now I can use all my previous choral training to help get the program reestablished.”

“The jazzy mashup of Johnny Mercer’s “When October Goes” and “Autumn Leaves” showcases the diversity of the choir’s abilities,” Goldston said. “The a cappella rendition of “Make Them Hear You,” from the musical Ragtime, is another favorite of mine. Creating the vocal balance is complicated, and we have to work hard,” she said. “The song’s message is very important in this social climate.”

For choir member Rebecca Mullen, a junior majoring in biology from Levittown, Pa., the song “Believer,” made famous by the rock group Imagine Dragons, aids her in increasing her musical ability. “I’m learning how to read music, and this pop song is fast-paced and has a lot of triplets so it reinforces that skill.”

Choir member Nadia Wright, a sophomore from York, Pa. majoring in early childhood education, is looking forward to performing a medley from the musical Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim. “Sondheim is a challenging composer and this is the only medley on the program,” she said. “The spookiness of the musical really fits with the concert’s October theme.”

Another work linked to the concert’s theme is Godzilla Eats Las Vegas, a programmatic tone-poem for wind band by American composer Eric Whitacre. “Drawing on a mixture of influences from popular media, Godzilla Eats Las Vegas presents a musical tale of the B-movie monster rampaging through the City of Sin,” Hodge explained. “The piece helped establish Whitacre as an innovator in style and texture for wind bands.”

The program will also include performances of a Harry Potter Symphonic Suite, and “Allerseelen” by Richard Strauss by the band, and “High Hopes” by Panic! at the Disco by the choir. “There’s something for everyone in this program,” Goldston said. “The choir is looking forward to presenting this eclectic mixture for our first audience.”

For more information about the program, email esuarts@esu.edu.

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