The Bohemian Symphony Orchestra will perform Orff’s Carmina Burana on November 23 in Prague
Updates: 11/5/2021 10:45 AM
Released: 5.11.2021, 10:45
Prague – On November 23, the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague will perform one of the most popular works of musical history in the Smetana Hall of the Prague Municipal House – Carmina Burana by composer Carl Orff. Approximately 160 artists from the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague, Bohemian Choir Prague and international soloists will be conducted by the orchestra’s chief conductor Martin Šanda. This is a translated concert from April last year, which could not take place due to the anti-pandemic measures in force at the time. Kateřina Dědková informed ČTK about it on behalf of the organizer.
The Czech soprano Noema Erba and the soloists of the National Theater of the Austro-Brazilian baritone Miguelangelo Cavalcanti and tenor Josef Moravec will perform as soloists. “In addition to the classical choir, the Rokytka children’s choir will also perform at the concert, thus guaranteeing the originality of the work. The whole concert will be complemented by special light choreography. It will therefore be a magnificent audiovisual show,” said Dědková.
“Few classical works are so popular across generations and listeners of various musical genres,” said conductor Šanda.
Carmina Burana is often on the program of gala concerts. For example, the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava performed it in 2016 in front of the released hall of the House of Culture of the City of Ostrava during a New Year’s concert. In the same year, the Prague Symphony Orchestra of the City of Prague FOK in the Municipal House at the end of its 81st concert season.
“Orff has been tried many times for me and I sincerely like the song – except for its occasional overuse,” said Jakub Hrůša, the permanent guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.
The cantata Carmina Burana was composed by the German composer Orff based on a collection of medieval religious, satirical, moralistic, love, drunken and other poems and songs of the same name written around 1230. From a medieval manuscript discovered in 1803, Orff selected only some of the more than 200 original texts written Old German, Latin, Old French and Italian, which set to music.
Carmina Burana was first performed on June 8, 1937 at the Frankfurt Opera under the direction of Bertil Wetzelsberger and directed by Oskar Wälterlin. The composition is mostly performed in concert, but stage performances are also well-known, for example in a theater with a ballet ensemble, more often in non-traditional spaces, such as courtyards and natural amphitheatres, rather with musical choreographies. Carmina Burana’s music is often used as film music for its drama, it appeared in the film Excalibur by John Boorman from 1981. The set-to-music poem O Fortuna from this Gothic ensemble was also used by Michael Jackson’s “King of Pop” at his concerts.