Spotlight interview: Fresno State’s ‘Carmina Burana’ is a ticket to the big show
Big music requires big moments. Fresno State is pulling out all the stops to perform “Carmina Burana” in a special pair of concerts this weekend (7:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27). I talked with Thomas Loewenheim, conductor of the Fresno State Symphony Orchestra, about the event.
Q: Set the scene for us: The music department was on the cusp of presenting an extravaganza performance of “Carmina Burana.” Then the pandemic intervened. What was that day like?
A: It was one of the most devastating days I have lived through. The excitement was extremely high, we were all ready to have a long weekend with three performances, all the guest artists where there, the orchestra, three choirs, the hall was set-up, tickets were sold out, I mean – we were ready to go and make the biggest mark the Department of Music was going to make, and then the dean walked into the hall and told all of us that due to the situation all activities were going to be shut down for two weeks. I remember all of us saying: can’t we wait till after the weekend?
None of us had any idea what was coming. Some were skeptical if the virus was really as bad as it was reported. Some were already quite worried about rehearsing and performing. There was a lot of confusion and a lot of emotions in the air, but mainly a huge feeling of disappointment as we have worked hard for weeks to put the concert together and it sounded really great. We were all very excited to perform Carmina Burana.
Q: You’re going to have about 180 musicians onstage — 100 singers and nearly 80 instrumentalists. Talk about an amazing performer/audience ratio. What is it like to have so many musicians in such a cozy space?
A: It is like sitting inside of the speakers of an amazing audio system and cramming the volume to the max. Because of the ratio of 1.5 audience members per musicians, and because of the smaller space, all audience members will feel as if they are part of the performance. In a situation like we have at the Concert Hall at Fresno State, the sound will wrap around all that will be attending, making them not just hear the music, but actually FEEL it, as the music is so powerful and engaging.
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Performing this massive work in our hall also has its challenges. For starters, fitting all the musicians comfortably on stage has been a puzzle we have been working on for a long time. Also finding the perfect balance and making sure all the different aspects of the music are heard is much harder in a smaller space that was not designed for such intense performances. And finally, we know that not everyone who will want to hear the concerts will be able to get in due to the limited number of seats in the hall. For all these reasons, we are currently working on building a new concert hall at Fresno State. The true dream is to have an incredibly high-quality acoustic hall, that can serve as a center for great music making in Fresno. A concert hall that will be a monument in our community and will bring the community together for amazing performances by the extraordinary groups we have at Fresno State and in our community. A hall that will recognize Fresno as a cultural hub in central California and will also bring guest ensembles and performers from around the world to Fresno as we will have an appropriate venue to present them for our community.
Q: Faculty will be joining students in the orchestra (and Maria Briggs is one of the soloists). You’ve personally played alongside students many times. What is the experience like?
A: I am strong believer of faculty and students joining forces and performing together. We, teachers, tell our students all year round how to perform, what to do, what is the correct conduct in a professional setting, and so forth. But for the students to actually sit next to their teachers, see them in action, witness their professionalism, hearing their sound as they play, all of the above give the students an experience that is second to none, and strengthens the bond between the faculty and the students and brings a new appreciation for the faculty. In addition, it creates an incredible feeling of pride to have performed with your professor.
I see my colleagues daily at school as we cross our paths in the corridor, or discuss topics in meetings, however, working together on a performance with our students brings all of us closer together. It brings me much joy to see my colleagues Limor Toren-Immerman, Bruce Bransby, Angelica Ruiz-Nuby, Amelia Smith, Ashlea Sheridan, Tom Hiebert, Nathan Sobieralski, Russ Zokaites, Cody Forcier, Matthew Darling, David Gabrielson, Michael Krikorian, Peter Klimo, and as you mentioned, Maria Briggs as one of our soloists, to be together on stage. It takes a special piece like Carmina to give all of us an opportunity to work closely together and share the stage with our students.
Such a collaboration also brings the whole concert to a new level of artistry as the faculty bring a lot to the performance. I saw the collaborative feeling amongst the faculty and the students in the first rehearsal, saw the pride of the professors who were so kind and supportive, leaving many of the solos to the students, and the pride of the students for being able to performs with their mentors. It is always a special experience that the students remember for the rest of their lives.
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Q: “Carmina Burana” can be described in many ways: eccentric, rhythmic, grotesque, theatrical, sensual. What exactly is going on in the piece?
A: All of the above. Really!
The piece is based on a collection of mostly secular songs from an early thirteenth-century manuscript discovered in 1803 in a Benedictine abbey in Benediktbeuern, a village in Bavaria. The manuscript contains about 250 medieval poems and songs, including works in Latin, Middle High German and French, the bulk of which do not appear in any other manuscript. They were assigned to categories: clerical poems, love songs, drinking and gaming songs, and two religious dramas. The poets are mostly anonymous but are believed to have been “goliards,” traveling poets who wrote satires and parodies for carnivals and festivals. The selection of poems serves as a symbolic statement on man’s subjugation to Fortune.
For Carmina, Orff employs an extremely large orchestra that also includes a huge percussion section and two pianos in addition to the grand chorus, the children’s chorus and the soloists, to give him a wide palette of timbre and tone color. The music varies widely throughout the piece and the different movements range from grandiose, to intimate and sensitive, to grotesque and theatrical, and then to intense and percussive. He truly is able to reach a wide variety of emotions thought the variety of orchestrations he is able to use with the large ensemble that comprises the performance.
Q: Tell us about the percussion section.
A: The percussion section is one of the most impressive aspects of the performance. It is much larger and more extensive than we usually use in symphonic works. It includes: 5 timpani, 2 snare drums, bass drum, triangle, cymbals, suspended cymbal, antique cymbals, ratchet, castanets, tambourine, sleigh bells, tam-tam, tubular bells, 3 bells, 3 glockenspiels, gong, and xylophone. We will have four students and both our percussion faculty Matthew Darling and David Gabrielson perform with us to be sure to cover all the needs of the composition. The extensive percussion section makes the piece truly epic!
Q: What does it say about Fresno State’s music department that it can pull off a piece like this?
“Carmina Burana” is a huge undertaking and demands an extremely large orchestra and chorus to perform. Darling is truly spearheading the project both times, four years ago, and now, making sure we will give our students and the community the opportunity to hear “Carmina” live. Cari Earnhart was bringing all the choirs of our department together to create the Fresno State Grand Chorus, giving as many students the opportunity to sing and experience this incredible work. She is also collaborating the Heather Bishop, the director of the choirs at the Clovis North High School and making it possible for their choir to join our project.
The fact that the Department of Music at Fresno State can put such a piece together and be able to perform it is a true statement to the quality and also the size of our department. It is a testament to the depth of talent that we have here in Fresno both for the amazing faculty, and the very talented students who come to study here, as well as our commitment to engage with our community. The Department of Music has a long history of excellence and all of us participating in the performances are committed to make sure that the excellence of our program, and the quality of our education as well as the amazing experiences that our students get in all areas of our department will continue. With the recent addition of the Bachelor of Music degree, the level and quality of what we can offer our students is now on par with all of the top programs in the country, and we want to be sure that our students will get a similar experience to those studying at prestigious institutions around the country. We want our community to recognize and celebrate the amazing talent we have in town, and hopefully continue to support the efforts that Fresno State is putting into educating the next generation of residents in the central valley. I hope that the power of our performances will be a great testimony to our dedication and love for music and our students.
Steph
FIVE timpani’s!!!
Epic is right!
I hope they get great audio and video of it and maybe show it on PBS someday. I hope it all runs flawlessly, really wish I could see such a thing.
Steph
Also (stunningly), Carmina Burana is still being UNDERsold by this interview. Anyone still curious need only google “O Fortuna” from Carmina to recognize the stunning and epic promise of this performance.
Which also means I undersold how much I’d have loved to see it (I’m out of town this weekend).
If anyone gets lucky enough to go, GO! It’s easily top 5 in all music concerts. It’s an experience you’ll never forget (I played a portion in high school, never seen it live).
Congrats to FSU. Epic congrats!