The Asheville Symphony Orchestra will team up with Bruce Frazier and other members of the Western Carolina University faculty for a musical salute to the motion picture mastery of director Alfred Hitchcock and the groundbreaking compositions of Bernard Herrmann.

“An Evening with Hitchcock and Herrmann” a multi-media performance featuring clips from classic Hitchcock films set to Herrmann’s music as performed live by the 80-piece Asheville Symphony, will begin at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in Western’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. Frazier, a two-time Emmy Award-winner who holds Western’s Belk Distinguished Professor of Commercial and Electronic Music, will conduct.

In addition to his Emmy recognitions for music composition and sound mixing during his 20-year career in Hollywood, Frazier was the orchestra conductor for many motion picture and episodic TV programs, including “JAG” and “Quantum Leap.” He began his conducting career in 1977 with recording artist Loretta Lynn.

“The evening is designed as an entertaining and educational celebration of the collaboration between two great artists of American cinema—Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann,” said Paul Lormand, director of performance space in Western’s new center. “For roughly 10 years, Hitchcock and Herrmann worked very closely with one another to create some of Hitchcock’s most memorable films.”

Those films include such classics as “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” “Psycho” and “The Birds,” said Lormand. Although Herrmann was a very highly respected film composer in his own right, he is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Hitchcock during these years, he said.

This evening also represents a collaboration of another sort this time between the Asheville Symphony and several Western faculty members and students, with Frazier as artistic director.

Claire Eye of the theatre faculty will serve as narrator for the program, working from a script developed by Terry Nienhuis and James Tiner of the English department, with consultation by Terry Curtis Fox, also of the English department. Jack Sholder of the communications faculty is director of the dramatic presentation. Frazier headed the video editing team, working with Sholder, Martin Fischer of the human services department and Shawna Solito of the music department to prepare the film clips that accompany the musical selections.

“It is truly exciting to see the tremendous variety of artistic and creative talent we have on our campus,” said Frazier. “It has been a wonderful experience working with faculty and student colleagues, from the original concept to the final product to be unveiled on Oct. 27. The audience is in for a real visual and aural treat.”

Tickets are now on sale for “An Evening with Hitchcock and Herrmann.” Prices are $20 for adults; $17 for senior citizens; $15 for Western faculty or staff; $9 for children age 3 to 17; $7 for non-WCU college students; and $5 for Western students. Group rates are available. The show is sponsored in part by the Smoky Mountain News. The Hitchcock-Herrmann celebration is part of a year of special events in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, including an eight-show 2005-06 Subscription Series. For more information about performances call the box office at 828.227.2479, or visit the Web site at http://fapac.wcu.edu/.