Orchestra Wellington Opens Season 2021 With Carmina Burana

Orchestra Wellington's 2021 season gets off to a thunderous start next weekend.

Music Director Marc Taddei leads massed musical forces of the Orchestra, Wellington Young Voices and the Orpheus Choir in the choral colossus, Carmina Burana.

With one of the best-known choruses in music, “O Fortuna”, the Carl Orff masterpiece is an irresistible whirlwind of power and colour.

And in an added coup, Orchestra Wellington have signed up Lexus Song Quest winner and Sol3 Mio member, Amitai Pati, making his solo concert debut with the orchestra singing tenor.

The concert on May 22 at the Michael Fowler Centre lifts the curtain on the Orchestra’s Virtuoso 2021 Season.

“Virtuoso, is there a more powerful or evocative word in Classical Music?” says Taddei.

“It brings with it the weight of expectation, an acknowledgement of artistry, and the sense of wonder that comes from sheer physical mastery.”

The assembled soloists play significant parts in the spectacle, not without some considerable vocal challenges.

Soprano Amelia Berry has the part of the young maiden in Carmina Burana. She’s appearing directly from the Opera House stage as Donna Anna in the acclaimed Don Giovanni production by Wellington Opera.

New Zealander Christian Thurston, fresh from playing the title role in Don Giovanni, sings the baritone. A graduate of the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Programme, in Carmina, Thurston represents the maiden’s love interest.

Like many fine Kiwi singers, Tenor Amitai Pati, is back home due to the Covid pandemic. Before that turned the world upside town he had been enjoying success with the San Francisco Opera.

Even those unfamiliar with classical music will immediately recognise Carmina Burana. Its big chorus numbers have formed the soundtrack to sports events, video games, commercials, movies and even the Simpsons.

The concert opens with Bartok’s Cantata Profana, a work premiered in London in 1934. Featuring tenor, baritone, choir and orchestra, the large-scale piece tells the story of a father and his nine sons who go out to hunt a stag but are themselves transformed into deer.

Subtitled “The Magical Deer”, Cantata Profana was inspired by Romanian Christmas stories and pagan mythological motifs.

Orchestra Wellington is joined by a team of stunning guest soloists, the Orpheus Choir and Wellington Young Voices in the 2021 Season Opener, Virtuoso Voices.

ORCHESTRA WELLINGTON presents

Virtuoso Voices – Carmina Burana
Saturday 22 May, 7:30pm
Michael Fowler Centre
Music Director, Marc Taddei

Amelia Berry, soprano
Amitai Pati, tenor
Christian Thurston, Baritone
Orpheus Choir of Wellington
Wellington Young Voices

Bartok – Cantata Profana

Orff – Carmina Burana

© Scoop Media