Ars Choralis Presents

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana

Ars Choralis, known for its innovative programming and led by Artistic Director Barbara Pickhardt, is pleased to announce two performances of Carl Orff’s masterpiece Carmina Burana on June 22 and 23 at Saint James United Methodist Church, Kingston, NY.

Joining Ars Choralis are baritone Steven Kirby; soprano Lily Arbisser; Tenor Chuck Sokolowski; a children’s choir from the Bennett School, led by Harvey Boyer; pianists Kristen Pickhardt Tuttman and Andrea Shaut; and Garry Kvistad and members of NEXUS Percussion. Ars Choralis last performed this work in 2013.

Carmina Burana,  a cantata composed in 1935 and 1936, is based on 24 poems and songs from a 12th-century Latin manuscript discovered in a monastery in Benediktbeuern, Germany. (“Burana” is Latin for the name of the district.) The pieces cover a wide range of topics, as familiar in the 13^th century as they are in the 21^st: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust. Orff remarked in an interview, “I am interested in spiritual realities . . . that include an unquenchable assertion of life.” The language settings of the poems and songs are rendered primarily in Latin, spiced with some old German. The Ars Choralis concerts are performed in a version with two pianos, percussion, and timpani.

Artwork by Nancy Howell.

Tickets On Sale Now!

Ticket Prices: $25 online; $30 at the door; $10 Students