Scary Night

Step into the shadows as the North York Concert Orchestra opens its 2026–27 season with Scary Night—an evening of supernatural thrills, cinematic chills and spine-tingling orchestral colour.

The concert begins with Bach’s monumental Toccata and Fugue in D minor, whose thunderous opening has become an enduring musical symbol of mystery and suspense. Bernard Herrmann’s chilling score from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho follows, its slashing strings recalling one of cinema’s most terrifying scenes.

Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain then plunges the audience into a wild witches’ sabbath, as sinister forces gather in a whirlwind of orchestral excitement. In Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, magic takes a comic turn when an apprentice brings a broomstick to life—only to see his clever shortcut spiral hilariously out of control.

The mood shifts from classical darkness to Halloween fun with Danny Elfman’s delightfully macabre music from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The evening concludes with the irresistible theme from Ghostbusters—a spirited finale guaranteed to leave everyone smiling.