Tucson Symphony Orchestra and Borderlands Brewing Co. are teaming up for a pre-concert event Friday, March 18, to get us in the mood for โ€œCarmina Burana.โ€

โ€œCarmina Beeranaโ€ celebrates a specially crafted maibock that Borderlands brewed in early January with the help of several TSO musicians. Maibock โ€” pronounced โ€œmy bockโ€ โ€” is a strong golden lager meant to be enjoyed in May, the time between Bavariaโ€™s bitter winter and brutal summer.

Longtime TSO percussionist Homero Cerรณn said he and his four fellow musician โ€œbrewersโ€ didnโ€™t really participate in the actual brewing of the TSO beer. But they got a chance to watch the process and take mental notes.

โ€œI was actively asking questions, but the brewmaster was the one doing all the work,โ€ recalled Cerรณn, who has been with the orchestra since 1979. โ€œI always kind of fantasized about brewing a gallon or two to get started, but I havenโ€™t gotten the courage to do it yet.โ€

Fridayโ€™s โ€œBeeranaโ€ begins at 5:30 p.m. at Borderlands, 119 E. Toole Ave., downtown. Tickets are $39.75 and $54 and include a pint of Borderlands beer and a Borderlands souvenir pint glass, a ticket to Fridayโ€™s performance of โ€œCarmina Buranaโ€ at Tucson Music Hall and a special gift from the TSO. Tickets are available through the TSO Box Office, 882-8585.

The TSO will perform Carl Orffโ€™s โ€œCarmina Buranaโ€ at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at Tucson Music Hall. In addition to the orchestra, the performance will involve the TSO Chorus, Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus and soloists Maeve Hรถglund, Christopher Pfund and Richard Zeller.

This is the first time the TSO will perform the piece โ€” based on the 12th and 13th century poems by theology students and clergy mostly satirizing the Catholic Church โ€” since 2007.


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Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com or 573-4642. On Twitter @Starburch.