Fall Music Gala: Heroes, Legends, and Epic Adventures

Oglethorpe University musicians take over the Conant Performing Arts Center on Thursday, October 22, for their Fall Music Gala. The night is titled Heroes, Legends, and Epic Adventures, and it's built around video game music arranged for instruments and voices. It's not just a small ensemble, either: the Oglethorpe University Symphony Orchestra, the Oglethorpe Chorale, the Oglethorpe University Singers, and The Jazzy Petrels all take the stage, so you'll hear a good deal of the university's music students performing together.

The program draws from some of the most iconic video game franchises, with those soaring, fantastical overtures sitting alongside a selection of other classical works. Assistant professor of music Andrew Schmidt says the evening goes deeper than the gaming connection, exploring a drive for innovation with music that feels "aspirational, evocative and deeply human." The set follows a narrative arc of intellectual evolution that starts with the Singers and builds to a celebration of flight by the combined singers and instrumentalists, a showcase of the range of talent among Oglethorpe's student musicians.

There's a social side to the night, too: audience members are encouraged to dress as their favorite video game characters and take part in a costume contest during the concert. The Conant Performing Arts Center is the home of the university's theatre and music programs, and it hosts performances, concerts, productions, and community events throughout the year on a campus that also houses the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art.

The gala runs from 8 PM to 10 PM at the Conant Performing Arts Center, 4484 Peachtree Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30319. It's free and open to the public.