Orchestra Iowa goes sci-fi for Halloween

Orchestra Iowa Maestro Timothy Hankewich also has plenty of treats — plus a few tricks — up whatever sleeves he’s wearing for the Halloween Pops concert. Here’s a peek-a-BOO at what he’s up to for this year’s Symphonic Sci-Fi concert on Saturday night.

Q: How spooky are you going to get for this Halloween weekend concert?

A: Did you mean spooky or Spocky? Nothing in the program is scary, but rather just a whole lot of fun. We’re going all-in-warp-speed-full-nerd mode for this program. There will be a ton of “Easter eggs” throughout the program that people of all ages will enjoy, and yes this program includes references that include old-time classics and more recent sci-fi canon, so bring the whole family.

Q: What do you like about the scores for these sci-fi classics?

A: Until recently, most music written for film and TV was thrown away after its initial use. What a tragedy! Over time much of it has been either reconstructed or rescued from a moldy box in someone’s basement. When composers wrote this stuff, they did not expect it ever to be played again, so they would pull out all the stops and write for HUGE orchestras with a lot of exotic instruments. Finding selections that are realistic by non-Hollywood’s standards was quite a challenge.

Q: When did you discover “Star Trek” and how did it speak to you?

A: I was an avid “Star Trek” fan from the very beginning of the original series. During my childhood I had models of the Enterprise, as well as spacecraft from “Space 1999” and “Battlestar Galactica.” When “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was first released, you needed smelling salts to revive me from my geeky euphoria!

It’s for these reasons that Orchestra Iowa hosted William Shatner the year the Paramount reopened after the flood.

In university, I went to my very first “Star Trek” convention in Indianapolis, under an assumed name, because I thought it was just too, well, Loserville. Boy was I wrong! I met Leonard Nimoy there, and bought the only piece of jewelry that I own to this day outside of my wedding ring — my communicator pin. I remember some stranger asked me how much I “invested” in that item. Thirty years later, I still wear that pin underneath my tails at every one of my concerts. EVERY. ONE.

Q: What will audiences hear in this program?

A: I wanted to make this concert a true sci-fi program. So there are the usual “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” suspects. But hold onto your warp drives: We’re also featuring music from “Stargate,” “Avatar,” “Tron,” “X-Files,” “Independence Day,” “Mars Attacks,” “Back to the Future,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “ET” and “Close Encounters.”

Each of these pieces has something iconic about it. I’m particularly looking forward to the music from the “Wrath of Khan” (the best “Star Trek” movie EVER!!!), because rarely do you get to hear the Enterprise theme.

But it’s how we’ve dressed up this concert between the pieces to make as many sci-fi references as possible that I am most proud of. There’s a lot of surprising and hilarious stuff. We even have some Klingon dialogue — and not just some random guttural grunts. We went the extra mile to translate some things into real Klingon, so if anybody in the audience speaks the language they’ll know we're legit — after all, Orchestra Iowa has its standards.

Q: As usual, this pops concert features a cosplay contest. So how will you be dressed? And do the musicians typically don costumes or costume pieces for the Halloween concert?

A: Musicians will be in costume as will yours truly. Deb Winter has been working on my costume for weeks, and I can’t wait to show it off. I think I’m going to propose to the musicians that we adopt it as our normal everyday concert attire. Stay tuned.

And of course, I encourage our audiences to dress up and strut their stuff as there will be an opportunity to parade onstage during some of the music. It’s not very often that I get to let my sci-fi, geek flag fly. You need to come to this one, as this will be the most fun we’ve had in years. Kaplach!

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com