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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Carmina Burana, Orchestra of St. Luke's

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

February 27, 2024
881 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019, USA

O Fortuna! Velut luna! Set to song texts from manuscripts found in the collection of the Bavarian abbey of Benediktbeuern, Carl Orff’s secular cantata Carmina Burana opens and culminates in a dizzying invocation of Fortune on her wheel, waxing and waning like the moon. But that’s not the score’s only grabber. How about the tenor’s tortured song of the swan roasting on a spit, or the baritone’s wild apostrophe to Venus, or the soprano’s orgasmic surrender to her lover? Crazy stuff! Tito Muñoz conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and the thrilling Young People’s Chorus of New York City (Francisco J. Nuñez, artistic director), with Ying Fan (soprano), Nicholas Phan (tenor) and Norman Garrett (baritone) doing the honors in the splashy solo parts. But then, what’s not splashy in Carmina Burana? Even without mushrooms, it’s a trip. —Matthew Gurewitsch

Photo: Stephanie Berger Photography, Inc.