Choral Union, percussionists, pianists and more will fill MemAud's stage Sunday.
For the first time since 2005, the Choral Union is performing "Carmina Burana," a piece often used in movies and sitcoms, such as How I Met Your Mother, Excalibur and Cheaper by the Dozen.
The show, taking place Sunday at 4 p.m. at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, is free to the public and expected to be a little more than an hour long. “Carmina Burana” is the only song in the show, Paul Mayhew, director of Choral Union, said.
The group will perform the piece with percussionists, pianists, dancers and the Athens Children’s Chorus.
Mayhew, an assistant professor of music education, said no space was big enough for all 130 members of Choral Union, several dancers, two grand pianos, multiple percussionists and a children’s chorus to meet and practice. Instead, hours before the show, the group will be piecing together some of the elements.
“It’s a spectacle,” Mayhew said. “It’s a big production, but it’s kind of cool and very fun to put together.”
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The song is broken down into three sections with a total of 25 movements. The piece, Mayhew said, was composer Carl Orff’s attempt to capture the spirit associated with 12th century poetry, and the piece puts a greater focus on rhythm than melody.
The movements, Mayhew said, are difficult because the piece is in secular Latin as opposed to spiritual Latin, which is commonly heard at a Roman Catholic mass. He added that Choral Union will sing in 18 of the movements.
The first section depicts springtime. The second section, "In the Tavern," has the men singing about drinking and gambling. The children’s chorus opens the third section, "Court of Love,” which tells the stories of two people falling in love. A movement toward the end, Mayhew said, will include all of the singers.
“(There are) really common themes of humanity,” Mayhew said. “Sometimes, we think about 12th century Latin and we think it must all be religious … This is secular poetry, and it’s pretty similar to pop poetry today.”
Mayhew added that lighting effects will be used when necessary to put a focus on the dancers rather than the chorus.
Nathan Andary, a lecturer in the Division of Dance, choreographed four movements for seven dancers. He said it will be a theatrical dance with a “modern dance flare.”
“All of the dancers have been committed and excited to the process and, ultimately, the performance,” he said. “It’s going to be a real treat to dance with live music and live vocals … They normally don’t get that kind of experience.”
Andary said the ritualistic and spiritual nature of piece is fitting for modern dance. The dance pieces, he said, have an abstract story line in which the dances are moved by the chorus.
Deciding where the dancers would perform in relation to the chorus, Andary said, was a difficult task. MemAud provides a space large enough for the power of the dance to match the power of the chorus, he said.
“The music itself is so robust that if the dancers were not able to match that, then it would not be a good match overall,” Andary said. “The music would overpower the dance, but that’s not the case at all. The dancers are fierce and, at times, become playful and whimsical.”
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