Hallowe’en Haunting
Those spoilsports in politics may have insisted that Hallowe’en is cancelled, but Children’s Classic Concerts is having none of it.
Following neatly on from the Ghost Lights in theatres that were the emblem of the Edinburgh Festival’s collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland back in August, Children’s Classics and the RSNO are unveiling The Haunted Concert Hall at 2pm on October 31. The loyal concertgoers that have packed halls across Scotland for their annual dose of spooky scores will have to don fancy dress in their own homes, but the usual prizes are still available for the best costume, as long as the wearer is snapped watching the film.
With a compact 20-player socially-distanced edition of Scotland’s National Orchestra to play music by Ligeti, Bach, Glass, and Wagner, prankster emcee Owen Gunnell will of course be one of the soloists with his batterie of percussion. Other popular regular ingredients include the RSNO Junior Chorus, working from home, and animations of drawings of The Hall of the Mountain King, made by students at the University of Scotland.
The 45-minute film was made in Dundee’s vast Caird Hall and takes full advantage of the huge empty spaces and secret spooky corners of the venue to combine all the concert elements with stunts and tricks not possible on a live stage. Although free to view on Hallowe’en and for 30 days thereafter, donations are welcome via the CCC website childrensclassicconcerts.co.uk where full details of the concert are available.
Image: Owen Gunnell with the RSNO’s Lorna Rough at La Bonne Auberge ©Martin Shields