Hughes Middle School performed songs from the musical “Wicked” at the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Rehansa Kulatilleke | Long Beach Current
From flutes and tubas to cymbals and snare drums, over 100 Long Beach State concert band musicians filled the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall with vibrant, eerie notes for the music department’s annual Halloween-themed “Spooktacular” concert on Oct. 21.
Associate director of bands Adam Friedrich oversaw and MC’d the show, which was the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music Concert Band’s first performance of the year.
The show was held in collaboration with the Hughes Middle School Wind Ensemble, conducted by Sivory Chastain-Castellanos.
The ensemble opened the show with a series of pieces, including the “Skeleton Crawl.” Tracing its roots back to New Orleans jazz, the piece is spooky-themed yet whimsical and lighthearted, and included student musicians clapping and chanting.
The Hughes Middle School Wind Ensemble concluded its performance with a medley from “Wicked,” including “No One Mourns the Wicked,” ” I’m Not That Girl,” “Defying Gravity,” “No Good Deed” and “For Good.”
Sivory Chastain-Castellanos conducted “Skeleton Crawl” during the beginning of the “Spooktacular” concert at the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Rehansa Kulatilleke | Long Beach Current
“One of the true joys of being here at a school like this is we get to offer opportunities to schools within our community,” Friedrich said after the ensemble’s performance.
Conducted by Bob Cole Conservatory of Music graduate students David Blackinton, Matthew Garza, Benjamin Maley and Jennifer Sosa, the concert band took the stage after intermission to perform “Night Dances,” with slow notes mimicking a haunting bell chime.
Other pieces performed by the concert band were “Danse Macabre,” based on the tale of skeletons rising from their graves to dance at midnight on Halloween, and “Cycle of the Werewolf,” inspired by the Stephen King novel of the same name.
The concert band concluded the show with a sinister, cinematic medley from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which included “Christmas Eve Montage” and “This is Halloween.”
Associate director of bands Adam Friedrich presented the five graduate students who conducted pieces throughout the “Spooktacular” concert on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall. Rehansa Kulatilleke | Long Beach Current
Maley, conductor of “Night Dances,” made his conducting debut at the “Spooktacular” show. He described his experience as nerve-wracking yet invigorating, recalling his racing heart as he got off the stage.
Maley said hearing the audience cheer as he and other performers bowed was reason to celebrate and made everything worth it.
“All that accomplishment and all that time and energy that people don’t see in the rehearsal hours, in the evenings,” he said.
For fourth-year clarinet player and sociology major Sage Florez, getting to know the five conductors of the “Spooktacular” concert was the highlight of preparing for the show.
“It was really cool working with a bunch of different directors,” Florez said. “Normally, I’ve only ever worked with one or two directors at a time, so getting to know five different people, their personalities and how they conduct individually was a great experience.”
The Bob Cole Conservatory of Music Concert Band concluded the show by performing a medley from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” conducted by Matthew Garza on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall. Rehansa Kulatilleke | Long Beach Current
Some concert band performers, including second-year clarinet art studio major Amadeus Duenas, performed in costume. Duenas performed in a leather jacket and face paint inspired by the rock band Kiss.
He said he enjoyed seeing his fellow performers wear costumes and feeling that he made a positive impact on the Hughes Middle School students who performed.
“Some of them went up to us and they were like ‘Wow, you guys did great,’” Duenas said. “So it was just cool to see that.”