Anglia Opera

Carl Orff's secular cantata Carmina Burana was originally conceived by the composer as an example of 'Theatrum Mundi' - a dramatic concept in which music, acting, dance, masks, costumes, and sets were inseparable.

A setting of 13th century songs and poems collected under the same name, Orff's Carmina Burana is subtitled Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.

Whilst the piece has gained near universal popularity, notably through its use in film and television, staged versions are rarely undertaken. Anglia Opera's production presents Orff's masterpiece as originally intended: a mesmerising visual and aural feast, celebrating the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling and lust.