Military musicians give spectacular performance of “Carmina Burana”

The Military Musical Ensemble "Stanislav Binički" and the Serbian National Theatre’s Opera Ensemble performed the monumental scenic cantata "Carmina Burana" in Belgrade last night.

This spectacular musical event, with several hundred musicians participating, was conducted by Maestro Aleksandar Kojić, and the soloists were Marija Jelić, soprano, Stevan Karanac, tenor, and Vasa Stajkić, baritone.

The symphony orchestras of the Military Musical Ensemble “Stanislav Binički” and the Serbian National Theatre, choirs, including the SNT’s children’s choir, and excellent soloists showed artistic brilliance, which the audience recognized and enjoyed the captivating scenic cantata, rewarding the performers with rounds of applause.

 “Carmina Burana” is a cantata written for a trio of vocal soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone), a large mixed choir and a symphony orchestra, greatly intensified by percussion instruments, so this was one of the rare occasions on which such a large number of musicians appeared on an open-air stage as part of one programme. This majestic, difficult-to-perform piece of work by Carl Orff, which is known for being performed in other artistic genres, is a hymn to joy that tonight, it seems, was equally enjoyed by the audience and the performers.

This outdoor musical event was organized by the Belgrade Festivals Centre, as part of the "Classical Sessions" programme, in cooperation with the Military Musical Ensemble "Stanislav Binički" and the Serbian National Theatre. It was originally planned for May, but was postponed due to bad weather, and then the invitation from Exit's platform - World Music Balkans (WOMBA) was accepted, with the support of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Balkan initiative, for "Carmina Burana" to be performed before the start of the big concert "Musical Vision of the Balkans", and the performance was moved to Ušće from the originally planned venue, Republic Square.

 "Carmina Burana", performed by the orchestras and choirs of the Military Musical Ensemble "Stanislav Binički" and the Serbian National Theatre, premiered in May on the Serbian National Theatre square in Novi Sad, in front of a large audience.