Cancelled: Carmina Burana with Ahoy! - Bracknell Choral Society

Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is one of the most popular and exciting choral works of the twentieth century. Although originally written to be staged, the cantata will be performed as a choral piece, with soloists and a children's choir, accompanied by two pianos and a range of percussion.

The songs tell of the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the nature of life, the joy of Spring and the pleasures of drinking, gluttony, gambling and love. Much of the work is based on the turning Wheel of Fortune, beginning with the dramatic ‘O Fortuna’, which is well-known from its use in many films and adverts. The songs were originally based on 24 medieval secular poems discovered in Beuren in Bavaria in 1803, and they are sung in a mix of Latin, German and medieval French.

Complementing this work is Ahoy! a piece for adult and children’s choir by Alexander l’Estrange. It was commissioned for the opening of the new state-of-the-art Mary Rose Museum in 2013 as part of the annual Portsmouth Festivities. It features a variety of songs from Tudor times, along with sea shanties, folk songs and original music and has been described as "a brilliantly inventive cantata ..... incorporating catchy tunes, toe-tapping shanties and some touching musical moments which is engaging and accessible."