20th, 24th, 25th, 27th August at 4.30pm and 28th August at 7.30pm

St Andrew’s and St George’s Church, Edinburgh

FRINGE SUCCESS!

“Musically it is superb… with impeccable rhythm and a sublime blend… this really is a vocally stunning performance” – THE HERALD, 2009

Please see the Press page for more reviews of our fantastically popular 2009 Fringe production of Carmina Burana.

Following the Fringe sell-out success of the Turing Test in 2007, Edinburgh Studio Opera returns to the Fringe Festival presenting a dramatic new staging of Orff’s powerful masterpiece, Rat-Pack style. As the roulette wheel spins, fortunes are found and fates decided.

Production Team:

Director: Antonia Alonzo
Musical Director: Susannah Wapshott
Assistant Music Director: Nicholas Fletcher
Production Manager: Oli Dimelow

Cast:

Naomi Baker, Alexia Betancourt, Joe Doody*, Rosha Fitzhowle, Jerome Knox, Richard Latham*, Henry Manning*, Ruaridh Maxwell, Debbie Miller, Julie Moote*, Catriona Morison, Claire Nicoll, Colleen Nicoll Aimee Penman, Laura Reading*, Jack Swanton, Katy Thomson, Ben Weaver*

* denotes principal cast

Director’s Note – by Antonia Alonzo

Carmina Burnana is one of the most renowned pieces of 20^th century classical music.  The famous “O Fortuna” is recognised by everyone from its commercial use in films, adverts; even the X Factor.  Yet, there is so much more to this work than the dramatic scene which encapsulates it .

Carl Orff composed this scenic cantata in 1935/6 after discovering Scheller’s edition of Carmina Burana, the “Songs of Benediktebeurn.  A Latin codex of 13^th century songs was found at a monastery at the foothills of the Bavarian Alps and was published by Scheller in 1847.  The songs are a collection of poems and songs by jesters and minstrels from France, Germany, England and Italy, and vary in language accordingly. These poems differ in theme, covering all aspects of human life: the defects of the church, decline of society, and the power of money. There are also lighter lyrics about love and spring; dancing and drinking songs, which would have originally been set to music.

Orff saw the potential in poems and decided to create a theatrical work, involving gesture, song and drama. He had created a concept called “theatrum mundi”, where music, speech and movement were interlinked, and this theatrical concept is visible in the whole of his work. When the work was originally staged in Frankfurt in 1937 the production used dance, mime and vivid designs to bring to life the work. Nowadays Carmina Burana is sung as a cantata in concert halls, although there have been ballet and circus productions too, which closer reflect Orff’s original intentions.

Having sung Carmina Burana at school I was struck by the drama and theatricality of the music, and saw the potential for staging it.  When I examined the lyrics to the poems, the themes seemed very relevant: love, dissolution, greed, corruption, gluttony and loss of control.  I also discovered drew characters from the lyrics, from lovers to priests, enabling me to create a narrative for the work.

The setting of the production in 1960s Las Vegas seemed appropriate. Not only for the hedonism and immorality the city represents, but also for the fast glamour of the Ratpack era. The parallel between the wheel of fortune and the roulette wheel is obvious, and more poignant at the moment with our lack of control over the fate of our money! Hopefully this production will be more in keeping with Orff’s vision, where the poems come to life through songs, choruses and dance.