Bernard Rubenstein, Conductor

Mary Wilson, Soprano
Mark Crayton, Countertenor
Peter Halverson, Baritone

Chamber Chorale, NDSU Concert Choir, MSUM Concert Choir
Chorus Members

Maurice Ravel:	Daphnis et Chloe: Suite No. 2   Daphnis et Chlole: Suite No. 2
Carl Orff:	Carmina Burana   Listen to O Fortuna from Carmina Burana

Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist of the impressionistic period, known especially for the subtlety, richness and poignancy of his music. His piano, chamber music and orchestral works have become staples of the concert repertoire. Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau, Miroirs and Gaspard de la Nuit, demand considerable virtuosity from the performer, and his orchestral music, including Daphnis et Chloé and his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, uses tonal color and variety of sound and instrumentation very effectively.

About Carol Orff and Carmina Burana

A Young Maestro Bernard Rubenstein and Carl Orff
Stuttgart Opera, 1968

Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936. It is based on 24 of the poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Its full Latin title is Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis ("Songs of Beuern: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.") Carmina Burana is part of Trionfi, the musical triptych that also includes the cantata Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. The best-known movement is the bracketing "O Fortuna" chorus that opens and closes the piece.

Maestro Bernard Rubenstein says of the photo of himself and Carl Orff:

"During my years as Assistant Conductor at the Stuttgart Opera (1966-68), I often played piano for rehearsals. The Stuttgart Opera was noted for its many premiers of new operas and for a long relationship with composer Carl Orff. I assisted with the musical preparation for his final opera, Prometheus, which was sung in "ancient Greek". The orchestration of this opera is very percussive. During one of these rehearsals, Orff sat down at the piano with me and said that "we had to make more noise". We continued the rehearsal playing piano 4 hands together. Amazingly, one of the staff took this photo during the rehearsal. I am probably one of the only American conductors to have worked directly with this distinguished composer and this is the photo documenting this occasion."

- Maestro Bernard Rubenstein, July 2007

About Mary Wilson, Soprano

Soprano Mary Wilson is acknowledged as one of today's most exciting young artists.  Cultivating a wide-ranging career singing chamber music, oratorio and operatic repertoire, her “bright soprano seems to know no terrors, wrapping itself seductively around every phrase” (Dallas Morning News 3/06).  She continues to receive critical acclaim from coast to coast:  “The discovery was Mary Wilson, a fine lyric soprano with focused, lustrous tone and sterling enunciation.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer 12/05) and “Her fast passages were flawless in intonation and seemingly easy in execution (the mark of a first-rate technique); her feel for the sound and meaning of words was impeccable; her mastery of Handel’s grand leaps and wind-ranging runs was total.” (San Francisco Classical Voice 4/06).