Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s production of German composer Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana will take the stage at 7 p.m. April 11-13 in the Katherine Dunham Hall Theater on campus.
The production is a collaboration between the departments of Theater & Dance and Music, along with special guest artists from Cuba, the SIUE Orchestra, the SIUE Concert Choir and Community Choral Society, and the Kirkwood Children’s Chorale.
Carmina Burana, an ambitious blend of music, dance and song, is created by J. Calvin Jarrell, the production’s artistic director and choreographer and director of the Dance program in the SIUE Department of Theater and Dance. Jarrell has brought together such diverse elements as a manuscript from the Middle Ages, a 1930s German composer, talented artists and dancers from Cuba and the multi-talented SIUE students, faculty and staff to create a one-of-a-kind artistic sensation.
Also bringing the production to stage includes the conductors, Michael Mishra, director of Orchestral Activities and conductor of the SIUE Chamber Orchestra; and Cosette Justo Valdes, guest conductor and director general/conductor for the Symphonica de Oriente in Santiago; and guest choreographer, Alfredo Velazquez Carcasses, vice-president de UNEAC de Guantanamo and artistic director of Danza Libre Folkloric Contemporary Dance Company in Guantanamo, Cuba.
German composer, Carl Orff, set 24 of the famous manuscript’s poems to new music. His selections cover a wide range of topics such as wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust. Much of his “O Fortuna,” the opening piece in his master work is easily recognizable by most people as one of the most often used pieces of music in the 20th Century.
Carmina Burana will be an intricate, interwoven, and bold creation that should not be missed. All performances are in the Katherine Dunham Hall Theater located on the SIUE campus, just south of the Student Fitness Center. For detailed directions, go to www.siue.edu/maps/
Show tickets are $24 for performance nights, April 12 and13. For the special performance dress rehearsal on April 11, tickets are $12. All seats are general admission. For tickets or more information, call the Fine Arts box office at (618) 650-2774 or toll free at (888) 328-5168, extension 2774.
SIUE’s Department of Theater and Dance presents four plays and one dance concert during its October through April season. All productions are open to the community at large. The Department of Theater and Dance is part of the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, visit their website at www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/theater.