UW Choirs and Wind Symphony, Children’s Choir to Present ‘Carmina Burana’ May 3

The University of Wyoming Choirs, Laramie Children’s Chorus and the UW Wind Symphony will present “Carmina Burana,” Carl Orff’s epic and iconic tour de force, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

Tickets are $17 for the public, $13 for senior citizens and $9 for students. A nominal processing fee will be charged for each ticket. To purchase tickets, visit the Performing Arts box office, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/uwyo/6984.

Conducted by UW Department of Music faculty members Brian Murray and Matthew Schlomer, as well as Laramie Children’s Chorus co-conductors Beth Kean and Allison Murray, the concert is a fusion of live orchestral and choral music and features more than 100 performers on stage at the same time. UW Department of Music choral faculty member O’Neil Jones serves as chorus master for “Carmina Burana,” with UW piano faculty member Theresa Bogard and UW graduate student Allison Garcia serving as pianists.

Orff's 1937 score is a favorite musical choice of modern filmmakers, especially the opening “O Fortuna” movement, which has become ubiquitous in commercials, movies and countless videos on social media. Inspired by a large collection of medieval poems that celebrate life through its four seasons -- using 24 of the poems as its text -- “Carmina Burana” is structured around the turning of the “Fortuna Wheel,” or the wheel of fate.

UW Choirs also will perform the piece with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra Saturday, May 10, at the Cheynne Civic Center as part of the orchestra’s 70th season finale concert, “Fortune and Glory.”

UW’s Department of Music’s performance of “Carmina Burana” features three soloists.

Dawna Rae Warren, a Cleveland, Ohio-based coloratura soprano, has established herself as a versatile performer. She brings a knack for captivating storytelling and musical sensitivity to all of her repertoire from opera to new music to baroque music to jazz to Golden Age musical theater.

Her recent engagements include performances with the Toledo Symphony, Longmont Symphony Orchestra, University of Colorado-Boulder (CU) Symphony Orchestra, Baldwin Wallace Bach Choir, IN Series Opera, Eklund Opera, University of Kentucky Opera Theater, International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia, Resonanz Opera, Blooming Voce Summer Opera Workshop and Toronto Summer Opera Workshop.

Baritone Andrew Garland is hailed as a performer whose artistry is a combination of “baritone of strength and vocal opulence,” according to Opera News and “cosmic energy and suavity.” He is widely recognized as a leader in recital work with dozens of performances around the country, as well as programs of modern American songs across the U.S. and Canada. Garland brings his communicative style to the concert stage with orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, Boston Youth Symphony, National Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Houston Symphony, Washington Master Chorale at the Kennedy Center and National Chorale Lincoln Center.

He has been a regular with the New York Festival of Song and has given multiple recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall, among others. Garland teaches on the CU voice faculty and is a mentor with Bel Canto Boot Camp.

Praised by Opera News as a “consistently lyric high tenor,” Puerto Rican tenor Javier Abreu sets himself apart with his energetic performances and commanding stage presence all over the world in the baroque, bel canto and contemporary repertoire.

Abreu’s many opera credits include appearances and premieres with Atlanta Opera, Opera de Oviedo, Theater Basel, Arizona Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile, Austin Opera, Israeli Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Nashville Opera, Minnesota Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Omaha, Virginia Opera, New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Lismore Opera Festival in Ireland, Teatro Arriaga in Spain, Central City Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Santa Barbara and Bard SummerScape.

An accomplished concert singer, Abreu has performed Orff’s “Carmina Burana” with many leading orchestras, including National Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Britt Music Festival, Pennsylvania Ballet and South Bend Symphony.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.