'Carmina Burana' fills the Panida stage

The musicians and singers for "Carmina Burana" filled the Panida stage in mid-August with among the largest group to appear in performance at the historic theater.

The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint partnered with the North Idaho Philharmonia for the performances, which featured a combined orchestra and chorus of approximately 100 musicians and singers. The production was conducted by Maestro Yevgeniy Grechko, a conductor and cellist with extensive international experience in orchestral and choral music.

The production was presented in collaboration with the Music Conservatory of Coeur d'Alene, where choral preparation has been led by Emily Sana. Featured soloists were Music Conservatory of Sandpoint alumna and soprano Zoë Miller, tenor Logan Shevalier and baritone Max Mendez.

Also participating in the performances were students in the Conservatory's Summer Academy Orchestra & Choir intensive program.

Kathi Samuels of the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint said performers involved in the production represent communities throughout the Inland Northwest, including musicians and singers from Bonners Ferry to Spokane. Many have previously participated in productions of Handel's Messiah, regional school music programs, symphonies and the Coeur d'Alene and Pend Oreille chorales.

Carmina Burana originated as a collection of 254 secular, satirical and often bawdy poems written during the 13th century, largely by traveling scholars and clergy known as goliards. The manuscript was discovered in 1803 at Benediktbeuern Abbey in Bavaria, Germany.

German composer Carl Orff selected 24 of the poems to create his dramatic cantata Carmina Burana, which premiered June 8, 1937, at the Oper Frankfurt. The composition remains one of the most recognizable works in classical music, particularly for its powerful opening and closing movement, "O Fortuna."