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IS IT SAENGER THEATRE…OR HOGWARTS?

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra will present “Halloween Pops” on Saturday, October 20 featuring John Williams’ Harry Potter Suite

MOBILE, Ala. Although they may be unaware of it, fans of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra (MSO) have a kindred spirit in Professor Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “Ah music,” the wizard told his students in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. “A magic beyond all we do here!”

On Saturday, October 20, the musical and magical worlds will once again meet when the MSO, under Music Director and conductor Scott Speck, presents its annual Halloween Pops concert at the historic Saenger Theatre in Mobile. The performance, which begins at 8 p.m., will feature not only John Williams’ Harry Potter Suite but excerpts from such appropriately spooky scores as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, Bernard Hermann’s Psycho, and Vic Mizzy’s The Addams Family.

Classical music buffs will find plenty to enjoy as well. Also on the Halloween Pops program are Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Scene 3; Grieg’s Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King; and Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette, better known today as the Alfred Hitchcock theme.

“I don’t know which is more fun, planning this concert or attending it,” says Stephen Hedrick, Executive Director of the orchestra. “We have all sorts of musical tricks and treats in store for the audience.”

“All the favorites will be there," says Scott Speck, the Symphony's Music Director. "It's amazing how many of the great composers, then and now, have written spooky music suitable for Halloween. This is a first for our orchestra, and we're hoping everyone will get in the spirit. The entire orchestra is dressing up, and I hope you will too."

For more information about the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, its performances and educational outreach programs, visit the orchestra's Web site at www.mobilesymphony.org.

To purchase tickets ($15-$55), call (251) 432-7080 or order online.

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1970 as the Symphony Concerts of Mobile. Its mission was to present world-class touring orchestras such as Alabama Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for six evening concerts.

In 1996, the board of directors decided that to serve the educational, quality of life, and economic development needs of the community, it should create its own orchestra of local professional musicians.

Today, the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, under Music Director Scott Speck, is the premiere producer of live symphonic music in the Gulf Coast region. It is committed to enhancing the lives of every member of the community by achieving the highest standards in live symphonic music and music education.