BY KAREN BOSSICK
Tickets are on sale for the Sun Valley Music Festival’s 2022 Gala Concert.
The concert—on Sunday, July 31 at the Sun Valley Pavilion—will feature Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
It’s billed as a rollicking choral tour de force—the rock opera of classical music. And it’s massive. It will feature two choruses totaling 150 singers, a powerhouse percussion section, the Festival Orchestra and three soloists.
The exuberant piece is based on a set of 24 poems written in the 13th century by the Goliards—a group of defrocked monks and vagabond students who wrote of their lusty lifestyles and odes to fate and fortune. Their verses, which originated from Seckau Abbey in Austria, include biting satires of religious themes and nods to gambling, carnal pleasures and the joys of the tavern.
Orff composed the cantata—“Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis”-- in 1935 and 1936. The German composer’s masterpiece was an instant hit on the big orchestra circuit, but it has also invaded popular culture. King Arthur led his knights into battle in the movie “Excalibur” with music from “Carmina Burana.” When Jim Morrison hallucinated in “The Doors,” it was to the soundtrack of “Carmina Burana.”
Snatches of the music have also worked their way into “The Simpsons,” a Super Bowl commercial and YouTube flash mobs.
Craig Jessop’s American Festival Chorus and the Cache Children’s Choir will sing at the gala, along with three soloists: Soprano Meechot Marrero, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Hugh Russell.
Meechot Marrero is a young Puerto Rican soprano who has captivated audiences with the color palette of her unique vocal cords. Nicholas Phan has been praised by the Boston Globe as one of the world’s most remarkable singers. And Hugh Russell is a Canadian who is acclaimed for his charisma, dramatic energy and vocal beauty
This is the one concert of the Sun Valley Music Festival season that involves admission. Money from ticket sales supports the Sun Valley Music Festival’s three weeks of free summer concerts and educational initiatives.
Tickets range from $85 on the lawn to $1,250 for the Sponsor Package tickets.
The Sponsor Package includes premium reserved concert seats, a pre-concert cocktail reception, VIP parking and a seated post-concert dinner with a short performance from the concert’s three soloists at the Grill at Knob Hill, along with a chance to meet the artists.
Tickets at the $275 and $550 levels include pre-concert cocktail reception and preferred seating in the Pavilion. Reserved Pavilion seats at $85 and $110 are also available.
Those on the lawn will be able to enjoy the concert at the Pavilion lawn’s 25-foot LED screen and state-of-the-art sound system.