January 2019
Repertoire
C. ORFF: Carmina Burana
Performers
Orquestra Simfònica Camera Musicae
Coral de la URV (dir. Montse Rios)
Cor de la FCEC
Coral Infantil de l’EMMVA de Sant Cugat (dir. Elisabet Kubesch)
Sara Blanch, soprano
Flavio Ferri-Benedetti, countertenor
German de la Riva, baritone
Josep Caballé Domenech, conductor
Programme notes
The most famous stage cantata in western music is based on 24 medieval poems that were found in 1803 in a codex dated between the 12th and 13th centuries that was kept in a German Benedictine monastery. The texts explain the opposite of what should be the monastic life since they represent a song to the pleasures of life such as eating, drinking, laughing, loving, enjoying nature or play and are not exempt from scathing criticism of the clergy and the rulers. In addition, the content does not forget that weight of destiny had so strong in medieval thought.
The success of Carmina Burana, which means ‘Songs of Beuern’ (the place where the manuscript was found) was immediate following its premiere in 1937. Carl Orff admirably combines the simplicity of the melodies that reflect the ancient provenance of the texts, with rhythms that are more complex influenced by Stravinsky and whose prominence gives in large part to percussion. In addition to staging a symphony orchestra with a large choir and a group of soloists, it gives a great listening experience and a variability of instrumental combinations that guarantees enjoyment.
CONCERT DATES
Carmina Burana & OCM
Biography Josep Caballé Domenech
Born in Barcelona into a family of musicians, Josep Caballé-Domenech studied piano, percussion, singing and violin. He took conducting lessons with David Zinman, Jorma Panula, Sergiu Comissiona and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Caballé Domenech was awarded the Aspen Prize from the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen and selected as “Protégé” in the inaugural cycle of the Sir Colin Davis Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 2002-03.
Designated Music Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogota, General Music Director of the Opera and Staatskapelle Halle-Saale (Germany), and now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (USA), Josep Caballé Domenech enjoys combining his conducting career with a great symphonic and operatic repertoire.
Caballé Domenech has worked with an impressive list of orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic London, with whom he recorded “Respighi’s Roman Trilogy” for Onyx Classics, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, WDR Cologne, Swedish Radio, Czech Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra, RSO Wien, New Japan Philharmonic, Baltimore, Houston and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, among others. Additionally, he usually conducts summer festivals like Aspen Music Festival, Texas Music Festival in the USA, Londrina Festival in Brasil and Moritzburg Festival in Germany.
Caballé-Domenech’s 2017/18 Season includes Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Cavalleria Rusticana at The Hamburg Staatsoper, Der Fliegende Holländer, Aida, Tosca, Adrianna Lecovreur and Sweeney Todd in Halle, Rosenkavalier in Bogota, and concerts with Dresden Festspielorchester at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Nürenberg Philharmonic, Spanish National Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Navarra Symphony Orchestra and the debut at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.