Welcome to week five of the quarter, Maroons! If you’re not already drowning in homework and midterm preparations, I hope that this list might offer you some fun things to do on campus as Halloween season approaches—or simply help get your mind off work.
Halloween
Saturday, October 24 at 4 p.m. Dress up in your Halloween costume for the Haunted Museum at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC)! This fun family event will feature crafts, spooky storytelling, a guided demon hunt through the museum’s galleries, and even a Mummification Demonstration. Oh, and lots of candy. Admission is free for UChicago students, and you can drop in any time from 4–7 p.m.
Saturday, October 24 at 7 p.m. The University Symphony Orchestra presents its annual Halloween concert, featuring works by Franz Liszt, Anatoly Lyadov, and George Chadwick, as well as Modest Mussorgsky’s masterpiece, Pictures at an Exhibition. The concert will take place at Mandel Hall and feature members of the University choral ensembles as well as dancers from the Hyde Park School of Dance. Admission is free.
Friday, October 30 at 7 p.m. Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and Doc Films present their annual Halloween horror film: Nosferatu (1922). Acclaimed organist Dennis Scott will provide live accompaniment, performing the original score on the chapel’s iconic E. M. Skinner organ. Student tickets are free!
Exhibitions
Ends March 14, 2027. Presented by the ISAC, Hartapu: The Forgotten King of Anatolia tells the story of a little-known Anatolian king who ruled in the eighth century B.C.E. The exhibit contains “ancient inscriptions, archaeological finds, and new technologies, including 3D printing and advanced imaging.” Contemporary works by artist SaraNoa Mark offer a counterpoint.
Ends December 12. Arts + Public Life at UChicago presents Intentionality, 1960: Whose Dreams?—a new exhibition by Chicago artist Candace Hunter focusing on the “construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway and the Black communities displaced in its path.” You can meet Hunter at “Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop,” a series of public dialogues where she and scholars discuss topics related to her work. The exhibit is on view every week, Thursday to Saturday, 1–5 p.m., at the Arts Incubator at 301 East Garfield Boulevard.
Music
Sunday, October 25 at 3 p.m. The Green Room Ensemble performs a lovely program of works by Eleanor Alberga, one of the world’s most in-demand composers. Alberga and her husband Thomas Bowes, a leading vocalist, join the Ensemble as special guests. The concert will take place at the Logan Center. Student tickets cost as low as $14.
Thursday, October 29 at 4:30 p.m. Musicians from the South Asian Music Ensemble present an intimate midday recital at Fulton Recital Hall at Goodspeed Hall. Tea and cookies will be served at 4:15 p.m.; music begins at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free!
Culture
Tuesday, October 27 and 28 at 5 p.m. The Logan Center hosts two readings by poets Nathalie Quintane and Jonathan Larson. Quintane is a French writer who has authored more than 25 books; Larson is a translator-poet who teaches French and German at NYU Deutsches Haus and the Metropolitan Opera. Pizza and refreshments will be served, and admission is free!
If you want to recommend an event for next week’s Culture Vulture, reach out to [email protected]!
