'Carmina' concert is one huge show
Twenty years ago, almost to the day, the Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Symphony Orchestra pulled off a major coup in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥: It assembled four community arts organizations, including the Civic Orchestra of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, to perform Berlioz's "Te Deum" choral work at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Music Hall.
On Friday night, in the first of three performances, the orchestra trumped itself. All told, 240 people - performers - packed the stage at Catalina Foothills High School for Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana."
"This is all amateur (choirs). It's a great stretch for all of them," said Marcela Molina, conductor of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Masterworks Chorale and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Girls Chorus, two of the groups represented. The other was the Catalinas Community Choir, led by Cyndee Chaffee.
The concerts, which repeat tonight and Sunday, open with Saint-Saens' Bacchanale, which SASO played at its first concert 30 years ago. Since then, "the orchestra has just grown in depth," said Barbara Chinworth, the orchestra's founder. "It's very exciting."
