Richard Carter

For the Times Record News

What: Wichita Falls Community Orchestra Fall Concert

When: 7:30 p.m. tonight

Where: Fain Fine Arts Theatre, Midwestern State University, 3410 Taft Blvd.

Admission: Free, donations are accepted.

Information: www.wichitafallscommunityorchestra.com

Following the Wichita Falls Community Orchestra’s first-ever “Patriotic Concert” earlier in July, the area symphonic group will premiere its “Fall Concert” tonight at the Fain Fine Arts Theatre at Midwestern State University.

The concert is Halloween-themed, said Rachel Kapelski, conductor and director of the WFCO, and will also include two dances by members of the Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre, as well as Dance, Etc.

The Fall Concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Fain Fine Arts Theatre in the Fain Fine Arts building in MSU. Admission is free.

The orchestra will be approximately 30 musicians and be conducted by Kapelski. The slightly less than one hour performance will be the WFCO’s first performance at the Fain Fine Arts Theatre, and they are very excited.

Kapelski said that one of the stand-out pieces of the evening will be Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise in C-sharp Minor. Soprano Melissa Ward will sing, and Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Mishic Liberatore has choreographed a pas de deux for dancers, Ashlynn Loskot and Elijah Stade.

Dancing will continue when 7 young performers from Dance, Etc. will dance Stephanie Medenwaldt’s choreography to Charles Gounod’s “Funeral March of the Marionettes,” a tune Kapelski said most people will recognize as the Alfred Hitchcock theme.

Kapelski said she enjoys organizing “straight (musical) concerts, but I also like to have variety for our programs. I like to collaborate with dancers and singers and actors. It just adds interest,” she said.

The orchestra will also perform selections from “Phantom of the Opera” (Andrew Lloyd Webber) as well as pieces from the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” movies. One of the more fun performances will be Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” which is very popular, she said. “It’s in so many cartoons, movies and advertisements and children love it.

The group will play Bacchanale from “Samson and Dalila,” the Camille Saint-Saens opera. “The piece has a very famous and exciting timpani part that will be played by our former timpanist, Daniel Sanchez, who’s just recently returned.”

Kapelski said the program is for everybody. People are welcome to wear their Halloween costumes, and it won’t be bad form for children to dance in the aisles, she said with a laugh.

The orchestra’s next performance will be a Christmas Concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at The Forum. The show will once again feature Ward as well as the Christ Academy Children’s Chorus, and Bistro Express will cater.

While tonight’s program is free to attend, she said, donations are appreciated. Checks made out to the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation with the WFCO listed on the info line are tax deductible.