APSU kicks off Halloween with annual Percussion Ensemble Concert

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Austin Peay’s Music Department invites the community to join them in the Mabry Concert Hall after sunset on October 29 for their eighth annual Percussion Ensemble Halloween Concert.

This year’s performance will feature the theme songs of some of pop culture’s scariest villians, including Darth Vader, Michael Myers and that notorious foodie, Hannibal Lecter.

“This one is all about the villains,” David Steinquest, APSU professor of music, said. “Pretty much everything has to do with bad guys.”

The Tuesday night concert will open with music from the “Halloween” movies, and then move into works such as Bach’s “Goldberg Variation No. 25,” which was used in the “Silence of the Lambs,” and “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.” Later, another famed villain will make his way to the stage, with APSU music professor Jeffrey Williams singing the lead role from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.”

The evening’s eclectic program will also feature Igor Stravinsky’s “Triumphal March of the Devil,” German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Evening Prayer” from his opera “Hansel and Gretel,” and the theme song from the popular 1966 television show, “Mission Impossible.”

For more than three decades, Steinquest and his musical minions have ushered in the October holiday with this madcap concert, featuring student musicians in Halloween costumes and an eerily decorated Mabry Concert Hall.

“There will be special lighting effects, and the communication department will provide a live feed video on the back screen giving the event an exciting rock concert vibe,” he said.

The event’s popularity over the years prompted the music department to add a second performance, with this year’s concerts set for 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Oct. 29. Admission to the Halloween concert is two cans of food, which will be donated to Loaves and Fishes, or $5.

Tickets go on sale Oct. 16, and the event usually sells out. For tickets, drop off the cans of food at the music office, Room 139 of the Music/Mass Communication Building, or purchase them online at Google AP marketplace.