FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 7, 2003
CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119

HUNDREDS OF DRAKE MUSICIANS TO PERFORM 'CARMINA BURANA'

Four Drake University choirs and the Heartland Youth Choir with a combined total of 260 singers will join a 75-member orchestra in performing Carl Orff's colorful and energetic "Carmina Burana" at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. The orchestra, conducted by John Canarina, is made up of Drake faculty, students and professional musicians.

Written in 1937, "Carmina Burana" is a scenic cantata that provides a great introduction to serious music, particularly to people who think serious or "classical" music is boring and monotonous. The work features a collection of songs about wine, women and love -- based on poems found in a Benedictine monastery.

" Carmina Burana" uses 13th century texts written by undergraduates, seminarians, and disenchanted monks who had left the university and monastery to spend their days and nights drinking, singing, making love, and praising all of those pleasures in verse, says Aimee Beckmann-Collier, director of choral activities at Drake. "The music is very accessible," she adds. "In fact, portions of it have been used in car commercials and in television ads that ran during the recent World Series."

Tickets for Drake's production of "Carmina Burana" are $15 for adults, $7 for students. They are available through Ticketmaster, the Civic Center Box Office and the Drake Fine Arts Box Office, (515) 271-3841. The Drake Fine Arts Box Office is open from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.