Choral Concert to Feature Carmina Burana

David Griggs-Janower

A Skidmore College choral recital is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2, at the College's Filene Recital Hall.

The Skidmore Community Chorus, under the direction of guest conductor David Griggs-Janower, will present Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, with chamber ensemble, and soloists Gene Marie Callahan Kern, Keith Kibler, and James Ruff. In addition, the Skidmore Vocal Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of Jeffrey Vredenburg, will perform Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52, by Brahms.

Performances are scheduled at 8 p.m. May 1 and 3 p.m. May 2. General admission is $5 per person, $2 for students and senior citizens. Skidmore students with ID will be admitted without charge.

Carmina Burana literally means "songs of Beuren," the title that was given by Johann Andreas Schmeller to his complete edition (1847) of the poems contained in an early 13th-century German manuscript from the Benedictine abbey of Benediktbeuren, south of Munich. The manuscript is perhaps the most important source for Latin secular poetry of the 12th-century goliardic repertory. The poems include religious, political, moral, erotic, Bacchic, and satirical verses.

Subtitled a "scenic" or "theatrical" cantata, Carmina Burana had its world premiere in 1937 by the Frankfurt Opera with Bertil Wetzelsberger conducting. The performance was a big hit and the work became internationally known following World War II.

Orff, born in Munich in 1895, was an educator as well as a composer. Carmina Burana established his reputation as a composer of substance. The music reflects his own style and brought him wide attention in the musical world. The work is usually heard today in concert form and is presented in three sections: "In Springtime," "In the Tavern," and "The Court of Love," with an opening prologue and finale on the subject of fortune, or luck.

Featured soloists at the Skidmore performance include Gene Marie Callahan Kern, soprano, Keith Kibler, bass-baritone, and James Ruff, tenor.

Kern is a veteran of numerous operatic roles and also has appeared as a recitalist throughout the U.S. She was a Metropolitan Opera regional finalist and one of 10 finalists in the U.S. for OPERA/America. Her early music training included piano, organ, and voice study in Saratoga Springs.

Kibler has sung leading roles internationally with some of the opera world's best directors. Twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, he has been a visiting artist with the Boston Camerata and has performed during summers at the Monadnock, Wolftrap, and Norfolk festivals.

Ruff has been praised for his singing in a wide variety of music on both the concert and operatic stage. His work in early music includes solo performances with such groups as the Handel & Haydn Society and the Newberry Consort, and his operatic performances include appearances with the New York City and Glimmerglass operas.

Griggs-Janower is a professor of music and director of choral music at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he has taught since 1981. He is also artistic director and founding conductor of Albany Pro Musica. Last year, the New York State American Choral Directors Association named Griggs-Janower "Outstanding Conductor of the Year." In 2002 he was the inaugural recipient of the UAlbany Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity. This spring, Griggs-Janower will lead Albany Pro Musica on a concert tour of Paris and Normandy in celebration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

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