Wenatchee Symphony put on a heck of a ‘Spooktacular’ Halloween show
The Wenatchee Valley Symphony sure put on a heck of a show on Saturday night — their Halloween Spooktacular. A great time was had by all.
Orchestra members showed up in costume and there were some doozies. Conductor Nikolas Caoille was dressed a Star Trek officer and there was an assortment of superheroes, a Ninja warrior and just about everything else under the sun. Bassoonist Mike Locke attached a mop head to his instrument and wore coveralls.
Caoille is one rare treasure of a conductor. Since he took over the baton, the level of artistry and the quality of the performances increased dramatically. And he always brings a level of energy and joy to the experience of music.
The Halloween performance drew a near capacity crowd at the Numerica Performing Arts Center. They played March of the Goblins, In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg, Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens and other selections, finishing with the theme from Ghostbusters.
At one point, a stagehand tied up Caoille and he conducted a piece only using his head. At another moment, concertmaster Michelle Vaughn left the stage in the middle of a piece and brought back a glass of wine from the lobby.
Caoille made a very humorous pitch for continued public support for the arts in our schools. He noted that to get an ‘A’ in most classes, all one needs to do is get 90 percent correct. He then had the orchestra play part of a song hitting 90 percent of the notes. It sounded even worse when they hit 60 percent of the notes, which is the minimum score required to earn a ‘D’.
Even with the frivolity, the symphony played superbly. It was a joyous and fun evening. Who says you can’t have fun with classical music?
