" 'Carmina Burana' is a little bit different from 'Messiah' in subject matter, tone and intention," understates music director Michael Huff. "It's a lot of different things to a lot of different people, depending on how you look at the world and at life." Huff sees it as "a celebration of what it is to be human, of the emergence of spring and all that portends."
"It's not a prurient sort of thing; it's a love story," he said. A love story, that is, that's framed by a rafter-rattling reminder of the fickleness of fate. The cantata's opening/closing chorus, "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi," forcefully drives home the point that "life sometimes kicks you around," Huff said.
The 170-voice chorus will be backed by two pianos and percussion. If you're accustomed to the full-bore choral/orchestral version, Huff says you may be pleasantly surprised at how well-balanced the voices and accompaniment are in this version...
