Ghosts, Goblins, And Hallowe'en Night

 It is Hallowe'en today, and so time for the proverbial things that go bump in the night. I tend to spend a lot of time in and around the Glebe neighbourhood, and homes and businesses do a lot of decorating for the occasion. This is the front window display of a pet grooming business.

Homes have a lot of creative ideas in the neighbourhood in how they decorate.

On Wednesday night, I went to the National Arts Centre for a Hallowe'en theme concert, with classical music and film score selections appropriate to the occasion. One of the large spaces in the building was decorated for photo ops.

Lots of guests were wearing costumes for this, the first night of a three night run of the concert, and most of the orchestra were in costume as well. It was a fun concert, and well worth attending. From the classical side of things, there were pieces like Ride of the Valkyries, The Hall of the Mountain King, Witches' Ride from Hansel and Gretel, and the Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens.

Film score selections included music from Psycho, Joker, The Witches Of Eastwick, Aliens, Signs, Jaws, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Harry Potter films. The conductor was a delight, remarking on how her father had taken the family to see Aliens when she was six, and of course it terrified her. She also remarked on how the music for that film is beautiful, thrilling, and even violent, and the suite they played definitely reflected that. It is an odd thing to both have music make you smile, and unnerve you, best reflected in the opening notes of the Jaws theme. And closing a concert like this with music from Harry Potter? Just perfect.