APPLETON -- Five choirs comprising nearly 250 voices will join three guest soloists and the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra under the direction of David E. Becker in a performance of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" Sunday, May 4 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton.
Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available at the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.
Headlining the concert are guest artists Stephen King, baritione, Steven Paul Spears, tenor and Tamara Wilson, soprano. The chorus will include Lawrence's Concert Choir, Cantala women's choir and Viking Chorale, as well as 35 members of the Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir chosen by audition and the 75-member, community-based White Heron Chorale.
A scenic cantata in five movements, "Carmina Burana" is based on 24 secular medieval poems written in Latin and old forms of German and French. The poems discuss topics ranging from drinking and gambling to the joys of spring. Orff's musical setting is a popular work on orchestral programs and is often heard in films and commercials.
King, an award-winning singer, has performed engagements from China to Italy and throughout the United States. Highly regarded as a vocal teacher, he holds positions at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University, the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Aspen Music Festival.
Spears, assistant professor of music in Lawrence's voice department since 2004, has sung roles in concerts, opera companies and festivals across the United States including the Aspen Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Julliard Opera Theater.
Wilson, hailed for her voice of "steely beauty and great power" by the Houston Chronicle, won the 2005 Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition and was a finalist in the 2004 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She currently performs with the Houston Grand Opera.
The White Heron Chorale, Lawrence Concert Choir and Viking Chorale are all led by Richard Bjella, director of choral studies at Lawrence. Phillip Swan, associate director of choral studies at Lawrence, conducts Cantala. Karen Bruno is the coordinator of the Academy of Music Girl Choir program.
