This Halloween weekend concert begins with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, a blazing celebration of rhythm, energy, and unstoppable motion. Its famous Allegretto adds a shadowed, processional beauty before the finale erupts with ecstatic force. The program then turns toward the macabre: Bach's Toccata in D Minor summons Gothic grandeur; Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre sends skeltons whirling in midnight dance; Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain conjures a demonic witches' sabbath; and Berlioz's March to the Scaffold stages a fevered hallucination of execution. Together, these works carry listeners from Beethoven's vitality into the thrilling darkness and vivid theatrical imagination of a Halloween weekend.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 7

Bach - Toccata in D Minor

Saint Saens - Danse Macabre

Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain

Berlioz - March to the Scaffold from Symphonie Fantastique

Celebrate the season with a festive musical tapestry that brings Holiday traditions to life. From the enchanting, bell-like tones of The Nutrcracker, to the crisp, martial brass of March of the Toys. From the high spirited, auditory winter painting of Sleigh Ride to powerful traditions of community and peace, highlighting the triumphal choral joys of Hallelujah Chorus and the warmth of familiar Hanukkah themes. Finally, the audience becomes part of the ensemble, joining together for a heartwarming holiday sing-along. 

The Salem High School chorus joins us on stage for this year's Holiday Pops.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is one of music's great declarations of human aspiration. Completed in 1824, when Beethoven was almost completely deaf, it expands the symphony into a vast journey from darkness toward joy. The first movemnet emerges from mystery and struggle; the scherzo drives forward with fierce rhythmic energy; and the slow movemnet offers luminous serenity. In the finale, voices enter a symphony for the first time on this scale, proclaiming Schiller's "Ode to Joy." Beethoven does not present joy as simple happiness, but as fellowship wrested from suffering, doubt, and chaos through courage, art, and shared humanity.

This program journeys across vivid musical landscapes. John William's The Cowboys Overture opens with cinematic sweep, galloping rhythms, brass fanfares, and the heroic spirit of the American West. Arutunian's Trumpet Concerto places the soloist at center stage in a brilliant, lyrical, and dramatic work that blends virtuosity with Armenian-inflected color. Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite provides the perfect opporunity for our student artists to join the composer in expanding the canvas into five pictorial scenes: sunrise, desert stillness, a burro ride, sunset, and storm. Together, these works celebrate the orchestra's power to tell stories, paint landscapes, and evoke adventure, character, motion, and grandeur through richly colored, immediately engaging sound, with warmth and theatrical immediacy.

Williams - The Cowboys Overture

Arutunian - Trumpet Concerto. Nathan Shower, soloist.

Grofe - Grand Canyon Suite. Featuring artisitc interpretations by New Hampshire elementary students.

This concert explores music's power to create images, stories, and emotional worlds. Ennio Morricone's film music speaks through haunting melody, striking color, and unforgettable gestures that give cinematic images their emotional soul. Hans Zimmer expands the modern film score with orchestral power, electronics, pulse, and vast sonic architecture, building drama through scale and transformation. Rachmaninoff's first movement from Piano Concerto No. 3 provides the Romantic centerpiece: intimate in its opening, monumental in its growth, and legendary for its expressive and technical demands. Together, these works connect film music imagination with concert hall virtuosity, memory, grandeur, and emotional intensity.

Morricone - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Suite

Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3, 1st movement. Everett Leigh, soloist.

Zimmer - Batman (The Dark Knight Suite)

Morricone - The Mission Suite

Zimmer - Gladiator Suite

Zimmer - The Lion King Suite