Ground-breaking Exeter College concert – the Carmina Burana Project

EXETER College music and dance students are performing a ground-breaking stage production of one of the 20th century’s most popular choral and orchestral works this month. Carl Orff’s dramatic cantata ‘Carmina Burana’ is used in countless TV ads, films and shows including the Old Spice advert from the 1980s, Excalibur, Natural Born Killers and, more recently, in the opening credits of ITV’s The X-Factor.

The spectacular work was written by the German composer in 1936 and is usually performed by hundreds of professional singers in major venues such as the Royal Albert Hall. Although it was originally conceived for the stage to include dancing, modern performances rarely include choreography and are confined almost invariably to singing and orchestral playing.

But this month Exeter College’s music, dance and visual arts students are rediscovering the essence of the original composition by mounting what is believed to be the South West’s first, stage production of Carmina Burana
The college’s Student Choir, Victoria Singers, Choral Society and Orchestra will perform the spine-tingling work along with a choir from West Exe Technology College as well as instrumental players from Devon Music Service Ensemble and the Exeter Music Group Orchestra.

Over 150 young musicians and dancers from across Devon will take part in the ground-breaking production entitled Carmina Burana Project at St George’s Hall on January 30 and 31.

The ambitious performance will offer a preview of the work of the college’s new Music Academy being launched later this year – believed to be the first of its kind in the region. Two former Exeter College students are also returning as professional classical singers to take solo parts in the production. Thomas Hobbs, who was recently awarded the prestigious Peter Pears Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, will take the tenor part and Heloise West will sing soprano. John Hobbs (no relation), a performer known to concert-goers throughout the South West, will sing the solo bass.

Io Pugh, head of music at Exeter College and musical director, said: “The attraction of this piece is that it is a very accessible work with a particular emphasis on primaeval rhythms.Carl Orff was a music educator of children and found the way into the subject was through music and dance. Every piece he composed before Carmina Burana he destroyed or disowned because he wanted to get back to the simplicity of simple harmony and texture and rhythms reminiscent of dance.

“Through the Carmina Burana Project we are showing that these are the sorts of production Exeter College is looking to put on in the future with the start of the Music Academy in September. The piece is very challenging musically and our production is testament to the tremendous talent of the college’s music and dance students. We have tried to include as many college students in the project as possible from musicians and dancers to students doing creative lighting, video projections, stage management and front of house. But we are also going outside the college and making it an opportunity for young people in the community to get involved in an exciting production.”

Carmina Burana is based on a collection of 24 medieval texts written by Golliards, a roving band of students and lapsed clerics who mocked authority and celebrated the pleasures of life. Principal themes are life, love, lust, drinking, gluttony, gambling, but most of all, fate. It is a demanding modern work, full of pulsating and pounding rhythms. The famous O Fortuna movement that starts and finishes the work is instantly recognisable.

Exeter College’s production follows Orff’s concept of Theatrum Mundi in which music and movement are inseparable. Carmina Burana will form the second half of the concert. A short first half will consist of works performed by the soloists and Victoria Singers. Exeter College’s media studies students are also producing a documentary about the project.

The performances are on January 30th and 31st at St George’s Hall, 7.30pm. Tickets are £6 (£3 for concessions) and are available by ringing the college on 01392 205971.