Metro Detroit's most proficient young instrumental musicians will be led by conductor Charles Burke and joined onstage by soprano Alice Pierce, tenor Richard Fracker, baritone Kelly Anderson and a combined ensemble of the Detroit Concert Choir, the Roosevelt High School A Cappella Choir and the Wayne State University Concert Chorale directed by Norah Duncan IV.
The first concert takes place Thursday, February 21 at 8 p.m. at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, and the second will take place Sunday, February 24 at 3 p.m. in Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center.
Carmina Burana, written by German composer Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936, is a scenic cantata based on a collection of poems discovered in a German Benedictine Abbey in the early 19th century. Translated from the Latin to Songs of Beuren, the manuscript is thought to be a compilation of writings on topics ranging from the mundane to the bawdy by the goliards, a medieval group of wandering scholars, students, clerics, poets and performers. Many of the works discuss such controversial and taboo subjects as sex, drunkenness and criticism of the church. With text that is often humorous and satiric, the subject is the fickleness of fate and the more Bacchanalian pleasures of life. The overriding theme of the work is that, in love and life, mankind is the pawn of fate.
The best-known and most often performed movement, "O Fortuna," opens and closes the piece and is a reference to the Roman Goddess of Fortune. In addition to Carmina Burana's popularity in concert halls, the piece has gained notoriety through pop culture, getting quoted in everything from Monday Night Football to the Broadway hit RENT, commercials for Taster's Choice to films such as Excalibur, Glory and The Doors.
The DSO Civic Orchestra, the Civic Youth Ensemble's premier symphony orchestra, is made up of the creme de la creme of the CYE program, southeastern Michigan's most comprehensive pre-professional training program for young musicians ages 18-24. The 115 high school and college students, selected for the coveted spots through a highly competitive audition process, rehearse weekly with DSO Director of Education Charles Burke and have unparalleled access to DSO musicians, guest artists and conductors who lead sectionals, coach chamber groups and teach master classes and private lessons. Members are exposed to the standard symphonic repertoire, ranging from the classical through the contemporary periods, and perform three concerts each season in Orchestra Hall. Recent repertoire has included Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Mahler's Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection."
Charles Burke serves as the Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestras and conducts the Civic and Philharmonic Orchestras. Soprano Alice Pierce received a bachelor's and master's degrees in vocal performance from Indiana University. A two-time Metropolitan Opera finalist, she teaches voice at Western Michigan University. Baritone Kelly Anderson debuted with the New York City Opera in 2002 and has since appeared as a guest artist with such prestigious groups as the Dallas Opera and the Houston Grand Opera. He is a voice faculty member at Bowling Green State University. Tenor Richard Fracker is Associate Professor of Voice and Area Chair of Vocal Arts at the Michigan State University College of Music. Career highlights include ten seasons of appearances with New York's Metropolitan Opera; the world debuts of Philip Glass's Hydrogen Jukebox and Orphee; and his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor lead in Glass's Civil Wars. -- www.detroitsymphony.com
