CLASSICALLY UNTRAINED:
HALLOWEEN 2025, SYMPHONIC AND ART MUSIC CALENDAR FOR NEW ORLEANS
Classically Untrained
By David S. Lewis
(Extra listings by Paul Oswell)
Your ONLY guide to symphonic art music in New Orleans! This is the only calendar of its kind in the region!
A Spooky Music Playlist (followed by the late October art music calendar)
It’s Halloween time, y’all, and I know the monsters aren’t going to mash themselves, but hold a little space in your haunted hearts for the sheer power of a full symphony orchestra transmuting the pathos of humanity. Many composers have explored usefully Halloweened themes of death and the afterlife, as well as fear and paranoia, throughout all periods of composed music. These are guaranteed to add a little headroom to any Halloween party’s playlist -- or just to put the solo listener in a frame of reflection appropriate to the season of harvest and late-stage biological entropy. Light a black candle, make your salt circle, and enjoy.
Mozart’s Lacrimosa (K. 626)
You’ve heard it in movies, perhaps commercials, but this movement from Mozart’s mournful Requiem is intense and haunting and pairs surprisingly well with pumpkin-spiced cadavering and palavering. Also from the requiem, the two-minute Confutatis adds intensity to the tragic languor of the Lacrimosa.
By David S. Lewis
(Extra listings by Paul Oswell)
Your ONLY guide to symphonic art music in New Orleans! This is the only calendar of its kind in the region!
A Spooky Music Playlist (followed by the late October art music calendar)
It’s Halloween time, y’all, and I know the monsters aren’t going to mash themselves, but hold a little space in your haunted hearts for the sheer power of a full symphony orchestra transmuting the pathos of humanity. Many composers have explored usefully Halloweened themes of death and the afterlife, as well as fear and paranoia, throughout all periods of composed music. These are guaranteed to add a little headroom to any Halloween party’s playlist -- or just to put the solo listener in a frame of reflection appropriate to the season of harvest and late-stage biological entropy. Light a black candle, make your salt circle, and enjoy.
Mozart’s Lacrimosa (K. 626)
You’ve heard it in movies, perhaps commercials, but this movement from Mozart’s mournful Requiem is intense and haunting and pairs surprisingly well with pumpkin-spiced cadavering and palavering. Also from the requiem, the two-minute Confutatis adds intensity to the tragic languor of the Lacrimosa.
Beethoven’s Symphony 3 (II) Funeral March
I had the honor of performing this symphony with the New Orleans Civic Orchestra this Spring, and this incredible second movement still comes to me at unexpected moments. In the famously foreboding key of C minor, the brief intervention of the relative major offers just enough hope before it’s dashed by a swelling fugue section that will haunt you. Incredibly beautiful, utterly devastating, there are few musical mementi morii with this much power to humble the quaking flesh.
Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 (II)
This is one of my favorite pieces from Shostakovich, but it’s not easy to listen to. Shostakovich wrote a lot of music about the barbaric treatment of Jews in Soviet Russia; in this you can hear the pain and fear of a people under constant scrutiny and persecution, expressed in the re-arrangement of traditional Jewish folk music…it can feel jarring and discordant and unnerving, so not for everyone, but it’s both powerful and intimidating.
Bernard Herrman: Psycho Theme
Bernard Herrman is truly an unsung legend, at least outside the symphonic world. If you like golden-era Hollywood, you’ve undoubtedly heard many of his works and had no idea. This post-modern classic feels like a much more American expression of the same paranoia and pathos found in that last Shostakovich quartet, polished up for a film project that, on its own, was considered brutal and shocking at the time.
Bach: Toccata and Fugue in Dmin
You know it, I know it, we all know it…but come Halloween time, you must acknowledge, this one’s a bop.
Henry Purcell: Cold Genius
Written in 1691 for an opera about King Arthur, British composer Henry Purcell envisioned an ancient spirit locked below the ice and released by the legendary monarch, albeit temporarily. This creepy aria’s chord progression was cribbed by Antonio Vivaldi in Italy about thirty years later, used in his ubiquitous “Winter” movement from The Four Seasons, which is roughly equivalent to Dua Lipa borrowing so heavily from disco today…the notion that these vintage composers were just lurking around their Tudor apartments and big cathedrals is belied by the sheer exchange of ideas in short periods of time.
Giuseppe Verdi: Dies Irae
This classic powerhouse work describes the “Day of Wrath” and is easily timed with your leafblower pranks…guaranteed to help scare the skittles out of masquerading children on your porch!
Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead
A member of the musical movement associated with impressionism, this music is meant to musically depict the sound from Charon’s boat as he rows you across the River Styx to the Land of the Dead…low, slow, intense and atmospheric.
Franz Schubert: String Quartet 14 “Death and the Maiden”
Recently played in New Orleans by New York’s Escher Quartet as part of the CCCMF festival, this is a bedrock work in chamber music. Schubert, quite ill in 1824 and with his own eternal dissolution clearly in mind, left his usual bright and gilded dance-friendly bops to pen a work that will wreck your guts. Not exactly a slow burn, but perhaps less for trick-or-treaters and more for those unafraid to listen deeply into the abyss.
In the Hall of the Mountain King
It would be unjust not to include this classic bop from Edvard Grieg, although it certainly gets enough play. Interestingly, Grieg himself HATED this brief overture; written as soundtrack material for a play by famed Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Grieg would be mortified by its ubiquity today. <shrug> Then don’t write spooky bops, Edvard. That’s on you.
Sergei Prokofiev: Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet
A rendition of the rivalry between the infamously acrimonious Capulets and Montagues, this intense interlude is powered by the horns and the strings…bombastic and foreboding, there’s plenty of underlying tension, but the main ostinato theme really works best when cranked up to 11.
Bach: Cello Suite No. 5.4: “Sarabande”
Played by Soviet virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich, this one is perhaps less outright frightening; more dark and contemplative. It’s also SHOCKINGLY modern in feel for a piece of music written just over 300 years ago. Perhaps the word here is “timeless”...
I had the honor of performing this symphony with the New Orleans Civic Orchestra this Spring, and this incredible second movement still comes to me at unexpected moments. In the famously foreboding key of C minor, the brief intervention of the relative major offers just enough hope before it’s dashed by a swelling fugue section that will haunt you. Incredibly beautiful, utterly devastating, there are few musical mementi morii with this much power to humble the quaking flesh.
Dmitri Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 (II)
This is one of my favorite pieces from Shostakovich, but it’s not easy to listen to. Shostakovich wrote a lot of music about the barbaric treatment of Jews in Soviet Russia; in this you can hear the pain and fear of a people under constant scrutiny and persecution, expressed in the re-arrangement of traditional Jewish folk music…it can feel jarring and discordant and unnerving, so not for everyone, but it’s both powerful and intimidating.
Bernard Herrman: Psycho Theme
Bernard Herrman is truly an unsung legend, at least outside the symphonic world. If you like golden-era Hollywood, you’ve undoubtedly heard many of his works and had no idea. This post-modern classic feels like a much more American expression of the same paranoia and pathos found in that last Shostakovich quartet, polished up for a film project that, on its own, was considered brutal and shocking at the time.
Bach: Toccata and Fugue in Dmin
You know it, I know it, we all know it…but come Halloween time, you must acknowledge, this one’s a bop.
Henry Purcell: Cold Genius
Written in 1691 for an opera about King Arthur, British composer Henry Purcell envisioned an ancient spirit locked below the ice and released by the legendary monarch, albeit temporarily. This creepy aria’s chord progression was cribbed by Antonio Vivaldi in Italy about thirty years later, used in his ubiquitous “Winter” movement from The Four Seasons, which is roughly equivalent to Dua Lipa borrowing so heavily from disco today…the notion that these vintage composers were just lurking around their Tudor apartments and big cathedrals is belied by the sheer exchange of ideas in short periods of time.
Giuseppe Verdi: Dies Irae
This classic powerhouse work describes the “Day of Wrath” and is easily timed with your leafblower pranks…guaranteed to help scare the skittles out of masquerading children on your porch!
Sergei Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead
A member of the musical movement associated with impressionism, this music is meant to musically depict the sound from Charon’s boat as he rows you across the River Styx to the Land of the Dead…low, slow, intense and atmospheric.
Franz Schubert: String Quartet 14 “Death and the Maiden”
Recently played in New Orleans by New York’s Escher Quartet as part of the CCCMF festival, this is a bedrock work in chamber music. Schubert, quite ill in 1824 and with his own eternal dissolution clearly in mind, left his usual bright and gilded dance-friendly bops to pen a work that will wreck your guts. Not exactly a slow burn, but perhaps less for trick-or-treaters and more for those unafraid to listen deeply into the abyss.
In the Hall of the Mountain King
It would be unjust not to include this classic bop from Edvard Grieg, although it certainly gets enough play. Interestingly, Grieg himself HATED this brief overture; written as soundtrack material for a play by famed Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Grieg would be mortified by its ubiquity today. <shrug> Then don’t write spooky bops, Edvard. That’s on you.
Sergei Prokofiev: Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet
A rendition of the rivalry between the infamously acrimonious Capulets and Montagues, this intense interlude is powered by the horns and the strings…bombastic and foreboding, there’s plenty of underlying tension, but the main ostinato theme really works best when cranked up to 11.
Bach: Cello Suite No. 5.4: “Sarabande”
Played by Soviet virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich, this one is perhaps less outright frightening; more dark and contemplative. It’s also SHOCKINGLY modern in feel for a piece of music written just over 300 years ago. Perhaps the word here is “timeless”...
The Classically Untrained Calendar
Your ONLY guide to symphonic art music in New Orleans! This week sees kid-friendly Halloween music, independent films and new music composers, traveling ensembles playing chamber music, and an introduction to one of the more innovative “house show”-style venues in town, the Studio Saint Phillip in Treme.
Wednesday, 10/22
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra present: An American in Paris
Matthew Kraemer, Conductor; Jeffrey Biegel, piano
JAMES LEE III: Concerto in A*
The undercard is a world premiere from James Lee III, with his Concerto in A. Lee, the composer-in-residence for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will have debuted seven major works this year. A bright young star and someone to catch early. The orchestra will also play Duke Ellington's New World A-Comin'; Leonard Bernstein's On the Town and Karena Ingram's heady work of new music RAINN (meant to musically represent the alarming statistic that, in America, a sexual assault occurs every 68 seconds). The evening will conclude with George Gershwin's An American in Paris (1928), an iconic work from an American composer who understood that the music known as “jazz” is essentially American art music. With Lee and fellow Baltimoran Ingram sharing the bill with Duke Ellington, the LPO continues its tradition of centering African American composers in a way that feels really good. This is not a pops concert, exactly; it’s thematically too pointed and self-aware, and even the Duke’s New World is not exactly in the regular rotation. This is part of why I love this orchestra so much, and it’s noteworthy that LPO director Matthew Kraemer, new last year, didn’t merely continue the tradition of including subtlety subversive programming, but has doubled down on it. What a night this will be!
Doors at 6:00 p.m.; music at 7:30, 7:30 PM (pre-concert talk at 6:30),
Tickets available here at lpomusic.com
Thursday, 10/23
Thirdstream: Strings and Sax @ Marigny Opera House
The Chicago duet Missing Piece and multi-instrumentalist Hunter Diamond will team up with the LPO’s Hunter Diamond for a collaboration meant to explore the boundaries of musical traditions and these folks are going to eat. Where Studio Saint Phillip hosts Missing Piece the day after, its small and intimate setting is environmentally and acoustically the polar opposite of the Marigny Opera House’s extraordinary de-consecrated-but-sacred vibe…if you wished to see these incredible artists in back-to-back shows that will bear very little sonic resemblance to each other, this would be your chance.
Doors at 7 p.m.; music at 7:30.
Suggested donation: $25 (but none turned away for lack of funds!)
Donations may be made in advance here
Halloween Concert @ St. Angela Merici School Gym
Enjoy a spirited evening of 13 spooky favorites, including music from The Addams Family Musical, Harry Potter, and Beetlejuice. The program also features Pieces Macabre—a delightfully eerie medley of works by a host of great old composers. (PO)
Free
Concert at 7pm
Friday, 10/24
Missing Piece @ Studio Saint Phillip (Editor’s Pick)
South Side Chicago’s duo, cellist Kelly Quesada and violinist Dan Galat, have made it their mission to commission new works on inspirational themes, such as community and justice, the environment and self-understanding, are making another trip back to New Orleans. Studio Saint Phillip is the coolest possible place to see them: this intimate venue was constructed adjacent to the home of LPO cellist Jeanne Jaubert, who curates chamber music in her space that draws the bi-level audience with both proximity and unusual acoustics: you’ll hear the rosin dust hitting the floor. Missing Piece will bring Hunter Diamond as a special guest on this one…it’s a very small, rather exclusive venue, so don’t wait too long to get tickets.
Doors at 6:30, music at 7.
Studio Saint Phillip
2413 St. Phillip St.
Tickets available here (you may also check with the venue for neighborhood discounts for some shows)
Saturday, 10/24
Jeff Gardner @ Studio Saint Phillip
Born in New York Gardner has called Brazil home for the last 20 years, Gardner studied and recorded Jaki Byard, recorded with Johnny Vidocavich, and played clubs and festivals on five continents. An educator and jazz pedagogue, Gardner has written over 20 books on the subject. For lovers of high-end jazz piano with a Latin twist, you’ll want to check this out.
Doors at 6:30, music at 7.
Studio Saint Phillip
2413 St. Phillip St.
Tickets available here
Sunday, 10/25
Louisiana Philharmonic Present: A Halloween Spooktacular
Costumes encouraged! This is a fun morning of (mildly) spooky orchestral tunes, including Richard Meyer’s Dia de los Muertos; Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead (music written by Nathaniel Stooky), a comic mystery story set to music; Lucho Bermudez’ decidedly vibe-heavy “Columbia Tierra Querida” (if spooky, I’m not sure how); and Rafael Hernández Marín’s spirited El Cumbanchero. This show is going to be a lot of fun and Roussel Hall is a surprisingly intimate place to watch…great family fun, and a great introduction point for the kids.
Roussel Hall, Loyola University
6301 Saint Charles Avenue
Doors at 10:15am; concert at 11
Tickets here
Haas and Rossignoli Play Singleton @ Studio Saint Phillip
This closes out a trio of SSP shows, with the music of New Orleans bass deity James Singleton interpreted by Brian Haas and Oscar Rossignoli. Singleton, of Astral Project fame, provides these two bad-ass pianists with incredible material.
2413 St Philip St
Concert at 7pm
The Fall of the House of Usher: Silent Film Screening with Live Music @ Marigny Opera House
Experience Edgar Allan Poe’s 'The Fall of the House of Usher' like never before. This special event presents a newly composed original score by Jeff Pagano, orchestration by Delachaise Ensemble. (PO)
By donation
7.30pm concert
Tuesday, 10/27
La Folia @ Trinity Episcopal Chruch
The Marais Baroque Ensemble opens its inaugural season with La Folia: an evening of murder, madness, and memento mori featuring works by Corelli, Vivaldi, and Leclair. (PO)
Pre-concert talk 6pm
Concert 7pm
From $15
A Little Direction Music @ Alter Space
Local composer and arranger Neal Todten plays his album A Little Direction Music in full with six collaborating musicians. This is vibe-heavy music in a vibe-heavy venue: the relatively minimalist soundtrack from the new film House of Direction will be played at this pre-Halloween screening. If you haven’t checked out Alter Space on Decatur, something’s happening here, Mr. Jones. (PO/DL)
Altar Space
1222 Decatur St
Music at 9pm
$15
Monday, 11/10
Jon Nakamatsu
7.30pm @ Dixon Concert Hall
Playing music of Busoni, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven (PO). More info
An interview with Luke Fleming, artistic director of the New Orleans Chamber Music Festival
More Classically Untrained features
Your ONLY guide to symphonic art music in New Orleans! This week sees kid-friendly Halloween music, independent films and new music composers, traveling ensembles playing chamber music, and an introduction to one of the more innovative “house show”-style venues in town, the Studio Saint Phillip in Treme.
Wednesday, 10/22
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra present: An American in Paris
Matthew Kraemer, Conductor; Jeffrey Biegel, piano
JAMES LEE III: Concerto in A*
The undercard is a world premiere from James Lee III, with his Concerto in A. Lee, the composer-in-residence for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will have debuted seven major works this year. A bright young star and someone to catch early. The orchestra will also play Duke Ellington's New World A-Comin'; Leonard Bernstein's On the Town and Karena Ingram's heady work of new music RAINN (meant to musically represent the alarming statistic that, in America, a sexual assault occurs every 68 seconds). The evening will conclude with George Gershwin's An American in Paris (1928), an iconic work from an American composer who understood that the music known as “jazz” is essentially American art music. With Lee and fellow Baltimoran Ingram sharing the bill with Duke Ellington, the LPO continues its tradition of centering African American composers in a way that feels really good. This is not a pops concert, exactly; it’s thematically too pointed and self-aware, and even the Duke’s New World is not exactly in the regular rotation. This is part of why I love this orchestra so much, and it’s noteworthy that LPO director Matthew Kraemer, new last year, didn’t merely continue the tradition of including subtlety subversive programming, but has doubled down on it. What a night this will be!
Doors at 6:00 p.m.; music at 7:30, 7:30 PM (pre-concert talk at 6:30),
Tickets available here at lpomusic.com
Thursday, 10/23
Thirdstream: Strings and Sax @ Marigny Opera House
The Chicago duet Missing Piece and multi-instrumentalist Hunter Diamond will team up with the LPO’s Hunter Diamond for a collaboration meant to explore the boundaries of musical traditions and these folks are going to eat. Where Studio Saint Phillip hosts Missing Piece the day after, its small and intimate setting is environmentally and acoustically the polar opposite of the Marigny Opera House’s extraordinary de-consecrated-but-sacred vibe…if you wished to see these incredible artists in back-to-back shows that will bear very little sonic resemblance to each other, this would be your chance.
Doors at 7 p.m.; music at 7:30.
Suggested donation: $25 (but none turned away for lack of funds!)
Donations may be made in advance here
Halloween Concert @ St. Angela Merici School Gym
Enjoy a spirited evening of 13 spooky favorites, including music from The Addams Family Musical, Harry Potter, and Beetlejuice. The program also features Pieces Macabre—a delightfully eerie medley of works by a host of great old composers. (PO)
Free
Concert at 7pm
Friday, 10/24
Missing Piece @ Studio Saint Phillip (Editor’s Pick)
South Side Chicago’s duo, cellist Kelly Quesada and violinist Dan Galat, have made it their mission to commission new works on inspirational themes, such as community and justice, the environment and self-understanding, are making another trip back to New Orleans. Studio Saint Phillip is the coolest possible place to see them: this intimate venue was constructed adjacent to the home of LPO cellist Jeanne Jaubert, who curates chamber music in her space that draws the bi-level audience with both proximity and unusual acoustics: you’ll hear the rosin dust hitting the floor. Missing Piece will bring Hunter Diamond as a special guest on this one…it’s a very small, rather exclusive venue, so don’t wait too long to get tickets.
Doors at 6:30, music at 7.
Studio Saint Phillip
2413 St. Phillip St.
Tickets available here (you may also check with the venue for neighborhood discounts for some shows)
Saturday, 10/24
Jeff Gardner @ Studio Saint Phillip
Born in New York Gardner has called Brazil home for the last 20 years, Gardner studied and recorded Jaki Byard, recorded with Johnny Vidocavich, and played clubs and festivals on five continents. An educator and jazz pedagogue, Gardner has written over 20 books on the subject. For lovers of high-end jazz piano with a Latin twist, you’ll want to check this out.
Doors at 6:30, music at 7.
Studio Saint Phillip
2413 St. Phillip St.
Tickets available here
Sunday, 10/25
Louisiana Philharmonic Present: A Halloween Spooktacular
Costumes encouraged! This is a fun morning of (mildly) spooky orchestral tunes, including Richard Meyer’s Dia de los Muertos; Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead (music written by Nathaniel Stooky), a comic mystery story set to music; Lucho Bermudez’ decidedly vibe-heavy “Columbia Tierra Querida” (if spooky, I’m not sure how); and Rafael Hernández Marín’s spirited El Cumbanchero. This show is going to be a lot of fun and Roussel Hall is a surprisingly intimate place to watch…great family fun, and a great introduction point for the kids.
Roussel Hall, Loyola University
6301 Saint Charles Avenue
Doors at 10:15am; concert at 11
Tickets here
Haas and Rossignoli Play Singleton @ Studio Saint Phillip
This closes out a trio of SSP shows, with the music of New Orleans bass deity James Singleton interpreted by Brian Haas and Oscar Rossignoli. Singleton, of Astral Project fame, provides these two bad-ass pianists with incredible material.
2413 St Philip St
Concert at 7pm
The Fall of the House of Usher: Silent Film Screening with Live Music @ Marigny Opera House
Experience Edgar Allan Poe’s 'The Fall of the House of Usher' like never before. This special event presents a newly composed original score by Jeff Pagano, orchestration by Delachaise Ensemble. (PO)
By donation
7.30pm concert
Tuesday, 10/27
La Folia @ Trinity Episcopal Chruch
The Marais Baroque Ensemble opens its inaugural season with La Folia: an evening of murder, madness, and memento mori featuring works by Corelli, Vivaldi, and Leclair. (PO)
Pre-concert talk 6pm
Concert 7pm
From $15
A Little Direction Music @ Alter Space
Local composer and arranger Neal Todten plays his album A Little Direction Music in full with six collaborating musicians. This is vibe-heavy music in a vibe-heavy venue: the relatively minimalist soundtrack from the new film House of Direction will be played at this pre-Halloween screening. If you haven’t checked out Alter Space on Decatur, something’s happening here, Mr. Jones. (PO/DL)
Altar Space
1222 Decatur St
Music at 9pm
$15
Monday, 11/10
Jon Nakamatsu
7.30pm @ Dixon Concert Hall
Playing music of Busoni, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven (PO). More info
An interview with Luke Fleming, artistic director of the New Orleans Chamber Music Festival
More Classically Untrained features