Southern Miss Symphony Conjures a Halloween Escape with ‘Fright Night!’
Wed, 10/21/2026 - 01:52pm | By: Mike Lopinto
Just days before Halloween and El Día de los Muertos, The University of Southern Mississippi’s
Symphony Orchestra invites audiences into the darker side of classical music with Fright Night!, Thursday,
Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium.
Part concert, part ghost story and entirely unexpected, the evening brings together
some of classical music’s most sinister, supernatural and downright frightening works.
From dancing skeletons and midnight apparitions to a terrifying horseback ride, Fright
Night! offers a Halloween escape with a full symphony orchestra as its soundtrack.
The program opens with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, where Death summons the
dead from their graves at midnight to dance until dawn. Its rattling xylophone bones
and famously “devilish” violin set the stage for Krzysztof Penderecki’s eerie Intermezzo
for 24 Strings, a brief but unsettling exploration of sound unlike almost anything
else in the orchestral repertoire.
Vocalist Taylor Hightower joins the orchestra as soloist and master of ceremonies
for orchestral songs by Franz Schubert, arranged by Franz Liszt. Among them is the
terrifying Erlkönig, Schubert’s breathless account of a father racing through the
night on horseback as his frightened child encounters a supernatural figure only he
can see.
“Some of the greatest composers were extraordinary storytellers, and they understood
that music can frighten us every bit as effectively as a great film or ghost story,”
said Dr. Gregory Wolynec, music director of the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra.
“This program lets us have some fun with that idea while presenting truly remarkable
music. Audiences can expect great playing, great stories and a few moments that may
genuinely make the hair on the back of their necks stand up.”
Adding another dimension to the evening is celebrated author and musicologist Anna
Harwell Celenza, who has created a special script weaving the concert’s music and
supernatural stories together. Celenza is a professor at Johns Hopkins University,
where she holds a joint appointment in The Writing Seminars and the Musicology Department
at the Peabody Conservatory. Her work has long crossed traditional boundaries, connecting
music with literature, history, culture and politics for readers and audiences of
all ages.
Hattiesburg audiences will have an additional opportunity to meet Celenza two days
before the concert. On Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m., she will appear at Storied Bookery,
201 Cox Avenue, Suite 3, to discuss her recently released book, On the Record: Music
that Changed America. The book explores the surprising ways iconic works of music
sparked debate and action in the halls of Congress, continuing a body of work that
ranges from award-winning children’s books introducing classical music and jazz through
story to scholarly studies of music’s influence on culture and politics. The event
is free, but seating is limited. Free tickets are available at storiedbookery.com.
The Symphony’s Halloween journey culminates Oct. 29 with Hector Berlioz’s monumental
Symphonie Fantastique, one of the most audacious works in the orchestral repertoire.
Inspired in part by the composer’s own obsessive infatuation with actress Harriet
Smithson, the symphony follows an artist from romantic longing into hallucination,
murder and the supernatural. A recurring melody representing his beloved follows him
through the work until an opium-induced nightmare sends him marching toward the guillotine.
And Berlioz does not stop there. The finale plunges into a performance filled with
funeral bells, grotesque dances, the ancient Dies Irae chant and orchestral effects
that must have seemed almost unimaginable to its first audiences. For this performance,
the orchestra will even feature the unusually low bells Berlioz specified for the
score on loan from across the country.
With Halloween only two nights away, Fright Night! offers the perfect excuse to trade
the usual Thursday evening for something considerably more thrilling.
Costumes are encouraged, but leave the hats at home. Courage may be required.
Fright Night!
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026 | 7:30 p.m.
Bennett Auditorium
PROGRAM
Camille Saint-Saëns — Danse Macabre
Krzysztof Penderecki — Intermezzo for 24 Strings
Franz Schubert/Franz Liszt — Orchestral Songs
Hector Berlioz — Symphonie Fantastique
About the School of Music
The School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi is the state’s flagship music program and
a destination campus for the study of music across the region, the United States and
the world. Housed within the College of Arts and Sciences, the school offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and has earned a national
and international reputation for excellence. Its distinguished faculty members are
active performers and educators who appear on stages from local communities to major
international venues. The School of Music is home to acclaimed band, choral, orchestral,
jazz, opera and musical theater ensembles and provides extensive solo and chamber
music performance opportunities. Students regularly perform at regional, national
and international events and work with leading guest artists in preparation for careers
as 21st century performers and educators.