Tucson's True Concord revisits 'Carmina Burana' to close out bubble season

Nothing like a few bawdy songs about drinking and debauchery to make us forget the year that was.

True Concord Voices & Orchestra is closing out its spring “bubble” season this weekend with Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” a series of songs penned by 13th century monks that express the beauty of springtime, the giddiness of love and a few tunes to toast to.

“The texts and music of ‘Carmina Burana’ are brimming with the hope, promise and revelries of love and springtime, having emerged from a cold, dark winter,” said True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan. “This piece feels very timely as we look to a new dawn for humanity after a difficult year of pandemic. All of us long for the renewal of relationships and activities we love, and ‘Carmina Burana’ speaks to that.”

The concert, which True Concord will perform three times this weekend, will feature the long-awaited encore of celebrated baritone Hugh Russell, who has made a career out of singing “Carmina Burana.” He was featured the last time True Concord performed “Camina Burana” in 2015, when the professional ensemble went by the name Tucson Chamber Artists.

“This is a guy who essentially is making a career with this work,” Holtan said.

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In addition to his 2015 performance in Tucson, Russell has performed “Carmina Burana” more than 100 times including with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras and symphonies including San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Toronto.

“He’s done it in Europe, with the LA Phil and with Tucson Chamber Artists and he’s coming back in the bubble to do this work,” Holtan said.

Russell arrived in Tucson on Friday, April 23, and was expected to isolate until late this week in keeping with True Concord’s COVID-19 protocols, although Russell, according to Holtan, is fully vaccinated against the virus.

The concert is part of the ensemble’s 2020-21 so-called bubble season, in which 18 chorus members were isolated throughout the six-week fall and four-week spring seasons. The group performed six concerts in the fall, four of them before live audiences, and four in the spring.

True Concord is performing Orff’s chamber version of “Carmina Burana,” the same version it performed in 2015.