“O Fortune, Empress Of The Word.” So begins one of the most beloved of all choral masterworks (and a rollicking good time, too) of Carmina Burana. Carl Orff has given a snapshot of late Medieval and early Renaissance life and love.
This work was once considered so bawdy that the first commercial recordings dared not print translations into English of the original poems. By now, we’ve come to smile at the amorous adventures of young students, the bibulous excursions of very secular monks and the power of nature to drive men and women wild in the springtime. To begin, Leonard Bernstein’s piano concerto in everything but name, his second symphony, takes as its inspiration a very different poem, one of the classics of mid-20th century soul searching. As only Bernstein can, introspection is only part of a concerto that is filled with jazz and the energy of America in the late 1940s and 50s.
5/13 & 5/14 – Carmina Burana at 8 pm
Location: DeVos Performance Hall
303 Monroe Ave NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Bernstein Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety
Orff Carmina Burana
Larry Rachleff Conductor | Kirill Gerstein Piano | Andriana Chuchman Soprano | Donald George Tenor
Hugh Russell Baritone | Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus Pearl Shangkuan, Director |
Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus Sean Ivory, Director
Tickets start at $18 | Students $5
Enhance Your Concert Experience and Enjoyment
Upbeat FREE PreConcert Presentations | 7 pm, DeVos Recital Hall
