Sound of Charlotte Blog

A Spooky Halloween with Your Charlotte Symphony

October 5, 2022

This fall, the Charlotte Symphony presents two events guaranteed to get you in the Halloween spirit: Jordan Peele's ground-breaking social thriller GET OUT in Concert, with Michael Abels' award-winning score performed live to the complete film, and Symphony Spooktacular, a frightfully fun family concert featuring eerie tunes about trolls, magic, witches, and dancing.

GET OUT in Concert

November 4 | Belk Theater

The Charlotte Symphony, led by conductor Thiago Tiberio, presents social thriller GET OUT -- the revolutionary film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele. This heart-pounding movie takes you on the journey of a young African-American man who visits his white girlfriend's family estate and uncovers a sinister reason for the invitation.

Composer Michael Abels incorporates the African-American voice in the film and created a new genre called "gospel horror." Below you can hear the eerie Swahili vocals and gospel undercurrents of the main theme, Sikilza Kwa Wahenga. According to the composer, these sounds are intended to act as ghostly echoes of dead slaves and those who were lynched, sending a warning to the main character to "listen to the ancestors."

Symphony Spooktacular

October 22 | Knight Theater

Dress up in your favorite Halloween costume and join your Charlotte Symphony for a macabre morning of frightful fun for the whole family! Resident Conductor Christopher James Lees will lead the Symphony in some seriously spooktacular music like Coleridge Taylor's Conjurer's Dance, Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King, and magical music from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. PLUS: wear your best costume for a chance to win tickets to a future Family series concert!

Prepare yourself for this paranormal program with a clip from Disney's Fantasia featuring Mussorgsky's spine-chilling Night on Bald Mountain.

5 Exciting holiday experiences with your CSO this season

October 29, 2019

The Holidays are just around the corner, which means the return of time-honored traditions and the making of new ones. From acrobatics above the orchestra to snow in the theater, check out these five exciting experiences that you can have, only with your CSO.

1. Snow in the Knight Theater

You may already be familiar with the CSO's annual Magic of Christmas, but did you know that it snows in the theater following the concert? Featuring a visit from Santa, audience sing-alongs and your favorite holiday music, this longstanding Charlotte tradition combines this year with Carolina Voices' The Singing Christmas Tree December 13-21.

2. Acrobatics above the orchestra

When the circus comes to town, they don't mess around. Cirque de Noel on December 28 at Belk Theater will include stunning aerial feats that will wow the whole family.

3. Dancing on stage for New Year's Eve

The party has moved to the Belk Theater this year to accommodate more room for the post-concert festivities. Swing into the New Year with style with Gershwin's famous Rhapsody in Blue, followed by champagne, desserts, a live jazz band, and a countdown to midnight.

4. Halleluja!

Handel's Messiah returns this year by popular demand. The CSO will perform this beautiful, dramatic work featuring the Hallelujah Chorus with the Charlotte Master Chorale and four soloists on December 6 & 7 at Knight Theater.

5. Watch Kevin get left Home Alone

Part of the CSO's Movie Series, the orchestra will perform the soundtrack to this delightful holiday classic live in sync with the film projected on a large screen above orchestra. Don't miss it on November 29 at Belk Theater. Read more

Tagged as holidays, Magic of Christmas, Movie Series, Pops.

Fun Facts about Back to the Future

May 23, 2018

Before you join us on June 22 for Back to the Future: Movie in Concert, check out these fun facts about the movie!

	1. In the early drafts of Back to the Future, the time machine was made out of an old refrigerator.
	2. Princess Diana attended the London premiere in 1985.
	3. Ronald Reagan quoted Back to the Future in his 1986 State of the Union Address: "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
	4. John DeLorean wrote Back to the Future co-creator Bob Gale a letter thanking him for "keeping my dream alive."
	5. Worried that people would shun a film with the word "future" in the title, one studio executive tried to have the name changed to Spaceman from Pluto.